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COPMRIGHT DEPOSm 



1 



SACRIFICE AND OTHER PLAYS 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 

TORONTO 



SACRIFICE 

AND OTHER PLAYS 



BY 



SIR RABINDRANATH TAGORE 



l^m f nrk 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1917 

AU rights reserved 






^^" V'> 



COPYKIGHT, 1917 

bt the macmillan company 

S«t up »Qd Alectrotypftd. Publishsd S«pt«inb«r, 1917 



OCT 25 1917 

©CI.D 48148 



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SANYASI 

OR 

THE ASCETIC 

Lead us from the unreal to the real. 



TO DR. JAGADISH CHANDRA ROSE 



SANYASI, OR THE ASCETIC 



Sanyasi, outside the cave 

The division of days and nights is not 
for me, nor that of months and years. 
For me, the stream of time has stopped, 
on whose waves dances the world, Hke 
straws and twigs. In this dark cave I 
am alone, merged in myself, — and the 
eternal night is still, like a mountain lake 
afraid of its own depth. Water oozes and 
drips from the cracks, and in the pools 
float the ancient frogs. I sit chanting 
the incantation of nothingness. The 
world's limits recede, line after line. — 
The stars, like sparks of fire, flown from 
the anvil of time, are extinct; and that 
joy is mine which comes to the God Shiva, 
when, after aeons of dream, he wakes up 
to find himself alone in the heart of the 
infinite annihilation. I am free, I am the 
great solitary One. When I was thy 
3 



4 SACRIFICE 

slave, O Nature, thou didst set my heart 
against itself, and madest it carry the 
fierce war of suicide through its world. 
Desires, that have no other ends, but to 
feed upon themselves and all that comes 
to their mouths, lashed me into fury. 
I ran about, madly chasing my shadow. 
Thou drovest me with thy lightning lashes 
of pleasure into the void of satiety. And 
the hungers, who are thy decoys, ever led 
me into the endless famine, where food 
turned into dust, and drink into vapour. 

Till, when my world was spotted with 
tears and ashes, I took my oath, that I 
would have revenge upon thee, inter- 
minable Appearance, mistress of endless 
disguises. I took shelter in the dark- 
ness, — the castle of the Infinite, — and 
fought the deceitful light, day after day, 
till it lost all its weapons and lay power- 
less at my feet. Now, when I am free of 
fear and desires, when the mist has van- 
ished, and my reason shines pure and 
bright, let me go out into the kingdom of 
lies, and sit upon its heart, untouched and 
unmoved. 



SANYASI 5 



II 

Sanyasi, by the roadside 

How small is this earth and confined, 
watched and followed by the persistent 
horizons. The trees, houses, and crowd 
of things are pressing upon my eyes. The 
light, like a cage, has shut out the dark 
eternity; and the hours hop and cry within 
its barriers, like prisoned birds. But why 
are these noisy men rushing on, and for 
what purpose? They seem always afraid 
of missing something, — the something that 
never comes to their hands. 

[The crowd passes. 

Enter a Village Elder and Two Women 

First Woman 
O my, O my! You do make me laugh. 

Second Woman 
But who says you are old? 



6 SACRIFICE 

Village Elder 

There are fools who judge men by their 
outside. 

First Woman 

How sad! We have been watching your 
outside from our infancy. It is just the 
same all through these years. 

Village Elder 
Like the morning sun. 

First Woman 

Yes, like the morning sun in its shining 
baldness. 

Village Elder 

Ladies, you are overcritical in your 
taste. You notice things that are un- 
essential. 

Second Woman 

Leave off your chatter, Ananga. Let 
us hasten home, or my man will be angry. 

First Woman 

Good bye, sir. Please judge us from 
our outside, we won't mind that. 



SANYASI 7 

Village Elder 

Because you have no inside to speak of. 

[They go. 

Enter Three Villagers 

First Villager 

Insult me? the scoundrel! He shall re- 
gret it. 

Second Villager 

He must be taught a thorough lesson. 

First Villager 
A lesson that will follow him to his grave. 

Third Villager 

Yes, brother, set your heart upon it. 
Never give him quarter. 

Second Villager 
He has grown too big. 

First Villager 
Big enough to burst at last. 



8 SACRIFICE 

Third Villager 

The ants, when they begin to grow 
wings, perish. 

Second Villager 

But have you got a plan? 

First Villager 

Not one, but hundreds. I will drive 
my plough-share over his household. — I 
will give him a donkey-ride through the 
town, with his cheeks painted white and 
black. I will make the world too hot for 
him, and — {They go. 

Enter Two Students 

First Student 

I am sure Professor Madhab won in 
the debate. 

Second Student 

No, it was Professor Janardan. 

First Student 

Professor Madhab maintained his point 
to the last. He said that the subtle is the 
outcome of the gross. 



SANYASI 9 

Second Student 

But Professor Janardan conclusively 
proved that the subtle is the origin of the 
gross. 

First Student 
Impossible. 

Second Student 
It is clear as the day-light. 

First Student 
Seeds come from the tree. 

Second Student 
The tree comes from the seed. 

First Student 

Sanyasi, which of these is true? Which 
is the original, the subtle or the gross? 

Sanyasi 
Neither. 

Second Student 
Neither. Well, that sounds satisfactory. 



10 SACRIFICE 

Sanyasi 

The origin is the end, and the end is 
the origin. It is a circle. — The distinction 
between the subtle and gross is in your 
ignorance. 

First Student 

Well, it sounds very simple — ^and I 
think this was what my master meant. 

Second Student 

Certainly this agrees more with what 
my master teaches. 

[They go out. 
Sanyasi 

These birds are word-peckers. When 
they pick up some wriggling nonsense, 
which can fill their mouth, they are happy. 

Enter Two Flower-Girls, singing 

Song 

The weary hours pass by. 

The flowers that blossom in the light 
Fade and drop in the shadow. 

I thought I would weave a garland 



SANYASI 11 

In the cool of the morning for my love. 

But the morning wears on. 
The flowers are not gathered. 

And my love is lost. 

A Wayfarer 

Why such regret, my darlings? When 
the garlands are ready, the necks will not 
be wanting. 

First Flower-Girl 

Nor the halter. 

Second Flower-Girl 

You are bold. Why do you come so 
close .f^ 

Wayfarer 

You quarrel for nothing, my girl. I 
am far enough from you to allow an ele- 
phant to pass between us. 

Second Flower-Girl 

Indeed. Am I such a fright.^ I wouldn't 
have eaten you, if you had come. 

[They go out laughing. 



n SACRIFICE 

Comes an old Beggar 

Beggar 

Ejnd sirs, have pity on me. May God 
prosper you. Give me one handful from 
your plenty. 

Enters a Soldier 

Soldier 

Move away. Don't you see the Minis- 
ter's son is coming.? 

[They go out 

Sanyasi 

It is midday. The sun is growing strong. 
The sky looks like an overturned burning 
copper bowl. The earth breathes hot 
sighs, and the whirling sands dance by. 
What sights of man have I seen! Can I 
ever again shrink back into the smallness 
of these creatures, and become one of them? 
No, I am free. I have not this obstacle, 
this world round me. I live in a pure 
desolation. 



SANYASI 13 

Enter the girl Vasanti and a Woman 

Woman 

Girl, you are Raghu's daughter, aren't 
you? You should keep away from this 
road. Don't you know it goes to the 
temple? 

Vasanti 

I am on the farthest side. Lady. 

Woman 

But I thought my cloth-end touched 
you. I am taking my offerings to the 
goddess,— I hope they are not polluted. 

Vasanti 

I assure you, your cloth did not touch 
me. {The Woman goes,) I am Vasanti, 
Raghu's daughter. May I come to you, 
father? 

Sanyasi 

Why not, child? 

Vasanti 
I am a pollution, as they call me. 



14 SACRIFICE 

Sanyasi 
But they are all that, — a pollution. 
They roll in the dust of existence. Only 
he is pure who has washed away the 
world from his mind. But what have 
you done, daughter? 

Vasanti 
My father, who is dead, had defied 
their laws and their gods. He would not 
perform their rites. 

Sanyasi 
Why do you stand away from me? 

Vasanti 
Will you touch me? 

Sanyasi 
Yes, because nothing can touch me 
truly. I am ever away in the endless. 
You can sit here, if you wish. 

Vasanti 
{Breaking into a sob.) Never tell me to 
leave you, when once you have taken me 
near you. 



SANYASI 15 

Sanyasi 

Wipe away your tears, child. I am a 
Sanyasi. I have neither hatred, nor at- 
tachment in my heart, — I never claim you 
as mine; therefore I can never discard you. 
You are to me as this blue sky is, — ^you 
are, — ^yet you are not. 

Vasanti 

Father, I am deserted by gods and men 
alike. 

Sanyasi 

So am I. I have deserted both gods 
and men. 

Vasanti 

You have no mother? 



No. 

Nor father .^^ 

No. 



Sanyasi 
Vasanti 
Sanyasi 



Vasanti 
Nor any friend.^ 



16 SACRIFICE 

Sanyasi 
No. 

Vasanti 

Then I shall be with you. — You won't 
leave me? 

Sanyasi 

I have done with leaving. You can 
stay near me, yet never coming near me. 

Vasanti 

I do not understand you, father. Tell 
me, is there no shelter for me in the whole 
world .f^ 

Sanyasi 

Shelter? Don't you know this world 
is a bottomless chasm? The swarm of 
creatures, coming out from the hole of 
nothingness, seeks for shelter, and enters 
into the gaping mouth of this emptiness, 
and is lost. These are the ghosts of lies 
around you, who hold their market of 
illusions, — and the foods which they sell 
are shadows. They only deceive your 
hunger, but do not satisfy. Come away 
from here, child, come away. 



SANYASI 17 

Vasanti 

But, father, they seem so happy in this 
world. Can we not watch them from the 
roadside? 

Sanyasi 

Alas, they do not understand. They 
cannot see that this world is death spread 
out to eternity. — It dies every moment, 
yet never comes to the end. — And we, 
the creatures of this world, live by feed- 
ing upon death. 

Vasanti 

Father, you frighten me. 

Enters a Traveller 
Traveller 
Can I get a shelter near this place.^ 

Sanyasi 

Shelter there is nowhere, my son, but 
in the depth of one's self. — Seek that; 
hold to it fast, if you would be saved. 

Traveller 
But I am tired, and want shelter. 



18 SACRIFICE 

Vasanti 
My hut is not far from here. Will you 
come? 

Traveller 
But who are you? 

Vasanti 
Must you know me? I am Raghu's 
daughter. 

Traveller 

God bless you, child, but I cannot stay. 

[Goes, 

Men come bearing somebody on a bed 

First Bearer 
He is still asleep. 

Second Bearer 
How heavy the rascal is! 

A Traveller {outside their group) 
Whom do you carry? 

Third Bearer 
Binde, the weaver, was sleeping as one 
dead, and we have taken him away. 



SANYASI 19 

Second Bearer 

But I am tired, brothers. Let us give 
him a shake, and waken him up. 

Binde {wakes up) 
Ee, a, u — 

Third Bearer 
What's that noise? 

Binde 

I say. Who are you? Where am I 
being carried? 
[They put down the bed from their shoulders. 

Third Bearer 

Can't you keep quiet, like all decent 
dead people? 

Second Bearer 

The cheek of him! He must talk, even 
though he is dead. 

Third Bearer 

It would be more proper of you, if you 
kept still. 



20 SACRIFICE 

Binds 

I am sorry to disappoint you, gentle- 
men, you have made a mistake. — I was 
not dead, but fast asleep. 

Second Bearer 

I admire this fellow's impudence. Not 
only must he die, but argue. 

Third Bearer 

He won't confess the truth. Let us 
go, and finish the rites of the dead. 

Binde 

I swear by your beard, my brother, I 
am as alive as any of you. 

[They take him away, laughing. 

Sanyasi 

The girl has fallen asleep, with her arm 
beneath her little head; I think I must 
leave her now, and go. But, coward, must 
you run away, — run away from this tiny 
thing? These are nature's spiders' webs, 
they have danger merely for moths, and 
not for a Sanyasi like me. 



SANYASI 21 

Vasanti {awaking with a start) 

Have you left me. Master? — Have you 
gone away? 

Sanyasi 

Why should I go away from you? What 
fear have I? Afraid of a shadow? 

Vasanti 
Do you hear the noise in the road? 

Sanyasi 
But stillness is in my soul. 

Enters a young Woman, followed by Men 

Woman 

Go now. Leave me. Don't talk to me 
of love. 

First Man 
Why, what has been my crime? 

Woman 
You men have hearts of stone. 



22 SACRIFICE 

First Man 
Incredible. If our hearts were of stone, 
how could Cupid's darts make damage 
there? 

Other Man 
Bravo. Well said. 

Second Man 

Now, what is your answer to that, my 
dear? 

Woman 

Answer! You think you have said 
something very fine, — don't you? It is 
perfect rubbish. 

First Man 

I leave it to your judgment, gentlemen. 
What I said was this, that if our hearts 
be of stone, how can — 

Third Man 
Yes, yes, it has no answer at all. 

First Man 
Let me explain it to you. She said we 
men have hearts of stone, didn't she? 
Well, I said, in answer, if our hearts were 



SANYASI 23 

truly of stone, how could Cupid's darts 
damage them? You understand? 

Second Man 

Brother, I have been selling molasses 

in the town for the last twenty-four years, 

— do you think I cannot understand what 

you say? [They go out. 

Sanyasi 
What are you doing, my child? 

Vasanti 
I am looking at your broad palm, 
father. My hand is a little bird that 
finds its nest here. Your palm is great, 
like the great earth which holds all. These 
lines are the rivers, and these are hills. 

[Puts her cheek upon it. 

Sanyasi 
Your touch is soft, my daughter, like 
the touch of sleep. It seems to me this 
touch has something of the great dark- 
ness, which touches one's soul with the 
wand of the eternal. — But, child, you are 
the moth of the daylight. You have your 



24 SACRIFICE 

birds and flowers and fields — what can 
you find in me, who have my centre in the 
One and my circumference nowhere? 

Vasanti 

I do not want anything else. Your 
love is enough for me. 

Sanyasi 

The girl imagines I love her, — foolish 
heart. She is happy in that thought. 
Let her nourish it. For they have been 
brought up in illusions, and they must 
have illusions to console them, 

Vasanti 

Father, this creeper trailing on the 
grass, seeking some tree to twine itself 
round, is my creeper. I have tended it 
and watered it from the time when it had 
pushed up only two little leaves into the 
air, like an infant's cry. This creeper is 
me, — it has grown by the road-side, it 
can be so easily crushed. Do you see 
these beautiful little flowers, pale blue 
with white spots in their hearts, — these 



SANYASI 25 

white spots are their dreams. Let me 
gently brush your forehead with these 
flowers. To me, things that are beautiful 
are the keys to all that I have not seen 
and not known. 

Sanyasi 

No, no, the beautiful is mere phantasy. 
To him who knows, the dust and the 
flower are the same. — But what languor 
is this that is creeping into my blood and 
drawing before my eyes a thin mist veil 
of all the rainbow colours.? Is it nature 
herself weaving her dreams round me, 
clouding my senses.? {Suddenly he tears 
the creeper, and rises up.) No more of 
this; for this is death. What game of 
yours is this with me, little girl? I am a 
sanyasi, I have cut all my knots, I am 
free. — No, no, not those tears. I cannot 
bear them. — But where was hidden in 
my heart this snake, this anger, that hissed 
out of its dark with its fang.? No, they 
are not dead, — they outlive starvation. 
These hell-creatures clatter their skele- 
tons and dance in my heart, when their 



26 SACRIFICE 

mistress, the great witch, plays upon her 
magic flute. — Weep not, child, come to 
me. You seem to me like a cry of a lost 
world, like the song of a wandering star. 
You bring to my mind something, which 
is infinitely more than this Nature, — 
more than the sun and stars. It is as 
great as the darkness. I understand it 
not. I have never known it, therefore I 
fear it. I must leave you. — Go back 
whence you came, — the messenger of the 
unknown. 

Vansati 

Leave me not, father, — I have none 
else but you. 

Sanyasi 

I must go, I thought that I had known, 
— but I do not know. Yet I must know. 
I leave you, to know who you are. 

Vasanti 
Father, if you leave me, I shall die. 

Sanyasi 
Let go my hand. Do not touch me. I 
must be free. — [He runs away. 



SANYASI %1 



III 

The Sanyasi is seen, sitting upon a boulder 
in a mountain path 

[A shepherd boy passes by, singing. 

The Song 

Do not turn aivay your face, my love. 
The spring has bared open its breast. 

The flowers breathe their secrets in the dark. 
The rustle of the forest leaves comes across 
the shy. 
Like the sobs of the night. 
Come, love, show me your face, 

Sanyasi 

The gold of the evening is melting in 
the heart of the blue sea. The forest, on 
the hillside, is drinking the last cup of the 
daylight. On the left, the village huts are 
seen through the trees with their evening 
lamps lighted, like a veiled mother watch- 
ing by her sleeping children. Nature, 



28 SACRIFICE 

thou art my slave. Thou hast spread thy 
many-coloured carpet in the great hall 
where I sit alone, like a king, and watch 
thee dance with thy starry necklace 
twinkling on thj^ breast. 

[Shepherd girls pass by, singing. 

Song of the shepherd girls 
The music comes from across the dark river 
and calls me. 
I was in the house and happy. 
But the flute sounded in the still air of night. 

And a pain pierced my heari. 
Oh, tell me the way who know it, — 

Tell me the way to him. 
I will go to him with my one little flower. 
And leave it at his feet. 
And tell him that his music is one with my 
love. 

[They go. 

Sanyasi 

I think such an evening had come to 

me only once before in all my births. 

Then its cup overbrimmed with love and 

music, and I sat with someone, the memory 



SANYASI 29 

of whose face is in that setting star of the 
evening. — But where is my Httle girl, 
with her dark sad eyes, big with tears? 
Is she there, sitting outside her hut, 
watching that same star through the 
immense loneHness of the evening? But 
the star must set, the evening close her 
eyes in the night, and tears must cease 
and sobs be stilled in sleep. No, I will not 
go back. Let the world-dreams take their 
own shape. Let me not trouble its course 
and create new phantasies. I will see, 
and think, and know. 

Enters a ragged Girl 
Girl 
Are you there, father? 

Sanyasi 
Come, child, sit by me. I wish I could 
own that call of yours. Someone did call 
me father, once, and the voice was some- 
what like yours. The father answers 
now, — but where is that call? 

Girl 
Who are you? 



30 SACRIFICE 

Sanyasi 
I am a sanyasi. Tell, me child, what is 
your father? 

Girl 
He gathers sticks from the forest. 

Sanyasi 
And you have a mother .f^ 

Girl 
No. She died when I was young. 

Sanyasi 
Do you love your father.'* 

Girl 
I love him more than anything else in 
the world. I have no one else but him. 

Sanyasi 
I understand you. Give me your little 
hand, — let me hold it in my palm, — ^in 
this big palm of mine. 

Girl 
Sanyasi, do you read palms? Can you 
read in my palm all that I am and shall be? 



SANYASI 31 

Sanyasi 
I think I can read, but dimly know its 
meaning. One day, I shall know it. 

Girl 
Now I must go to meet my father. 

Sanyasi 
Where? 

Girl 
Where the road goes into the forest. 
He will miss me, if he does not find me 
there. 

Sanyasi 
Bring your head near to me, child. Let 
me give you my kiss of blessing, before 
you go. [Girl goes, 

A Mother enters, with two children 

Mother 
How stout and chubby Misri's children 
are. They are something to look at. But 
the more I feed you, the more you seem 
to grow thin every day. 



32 SACRIFICE 

First Girl 
But why do you always blame us for 
that, mother? Can we help it? 

Mother 
Don't I tell you to take plenty of rest? 
But you must always be running about. 

Second Girl 
But, mother, we run about on your 
errands. 

Mother 
How dare you answer me like that? 

Sanyasi 
Where are you going, daughter? 

Mother 
My salutation, father. We are going 
home. 

Sanyasi 
How many are you? 

Mother 
My mother-in-law, and my husband 
and two other children, beside these. 



SANYASI S3 

Sanyasi 
How do you spend your days? 

Mother 
I hardly know how my days pass. My 
man goes to the field, and I have my house 
to look after. Then, in the evening, I 
sit to spin with my elder girls. {To the 
girls.) Go and salute the sanyasi. Bless 
them, father. [They go.] 

Enter Two Men 

First Man 
Friend, go back from here. Do not 
come any further. 

Second Man 
Yes, I know. Friends meet in this earth 
by chance, and the chance carries us on 
together some portion of the way, and 
then comes the moment when we must 
part. 

Second Friend 
Let us carry away with us the hope 
that we part to meet again. 



34 SACRIFICE 

First Friend 
Our meetings and partings belong to 
all the movements of the world. Stars 
do not take special notice of us. 

Second Friend 
Let us salute those stars which did 
throw us together. If for a moment, still 
it has been much. 

First Friend 
Look back for a minute before you go. 
Can you see that faint glimmer of the 
water in the dark, and those casuarina 
trees on the sandy bank? Our village is 
all one heap of dark shadows. You can 
only see the lights. Can you guess which 
of those lights are ours? 

Second Friend 
Yes, I think I can. 

First Friend 

That light is the last farewell look of 

our past days upon their parting guest. 

A little further on, and there will remain 

one blot of darkness. [They go away. 



SANYASI 35 

Sanyasi 
The night grows dark and desolate. 
It sits like a woman forsaken, — those 
stars are her tears, turned into fire. O 
my child, the sorrow of your little heart 
has filled, for ever, all the nights of my 
life with its sadness. Your dear caressing 
hand has left its touch in this night air, — 
I feel it on my forehead, — it is damp with 
your tears. My darling, your sobs that 
pursued me, when I fled away, have clung 
to my heart. I shall carry them to my 
death. 



36 SACRIFICE 



IV 

Sanyasi, in the village path 

Let my vows of sanyasi go. I break 
my staff and my alms-bowl. This stately 
ship, this world, which is crossing the 
sea of time, — let it take me up again, let 
me join once more the pilgrims. O the 
fool, who wanted to seek safety in swim- 
ming alone and gave up the light of the 
sun and stars, to pick his way with his 
glow-worm's lamp! The bird flies in the 
sky, not to fly away into the emptiness, 
but to come back again to this great 
earth. — I am free. I am free from the 
bodiless chain of the Nay. I am free 
among things, and forms and purpose. 
The finite is the true infinite, and love 
knows its truth. My girl, you are the 
spirit of all that is, — I can never leave you. 

Enters a Village Elder 

Sanyasi 

Do you know, brother, where Raghu's 
daughter is.^^ 



SANYASI 37 

Elder 
She has left her village, and we are glad. 

Sanyasi 
Where has she gone? 

Elder 
Do you ask where? It is all one to her 
where she goes. {Goes out. 

Sanyasi 
My darling has gone to seek a some- 
where in the emptiness of nowhere. She 
must find me. 

A crowd of Villagers enter 

First Man 
So our King's son is going to be married 
to-night. 

Second Man 
Can you tell me, when is the wedding 
hour? 

Third Man 
The wedding hour is only for the bride- 
groom and the bride. What have we got 
to do with it? 



38 SACRIFICE 

A Woman 

But won't they give us cakes for the 
happy day? 

First Man 

Cakes? You are silly. My uncle lives 
in the town — I have heard from him that 
we shall have curds and parched rice. 

Second Man 

Grand. 

Fourth Man 

But we shall have a great deal more 
water than curds. You may be sure of 
that. 

First Man 

Moti, you are a dull fellow. Water in 
the curds at a prince's wedding! 

Fourth Man 

But we are not princes ourselves, 
Panchu. For us, poor people, the curds 
have the trick of turning into water most 
parts. 



SANYASI 39 

First Man 

Look there. That son of the charcoal- 
burner is still busy with his work. We 
mustn't allow that. 

Second Man 

We shall burn him into charcoal, if he 
does not come out. 

Sanyasi 

Do you know, any of you, where is 
Raghu's daughter.? 

The Woman 
She has gone away. 

Sanyasi 

Where? 

Woman 

That we don't know. 

First Man 

But we are sure that she is not the bride 
for our prince. 

[They laugh and go out. 



40 SACRIFICE 

Enters a Woman, with a child 

Woman 

My obeisance to you, father. Let my 
child touch your feet with his head. He 
is sick. Bless him, father. 

Sanyasi 

But, daughter, I am no longer a sanyasi. 
Do not mock me with your salutation. 

Woman 

Then who are you? What are you 
doing? 

Sanyasi 

I am seeking. 

Woman 
Seeking whom? 

Sanyasi 

Seeking my lost world back. — Do you 
know Raghu's daughter? Where is she? 

Woman 
Raghu's daughter? Sh^ is dead. 



SANYASI 41 

Sanyasi 
No, she cannot be dead. No. No. 

Woman 
But what is her death to you, Sanyasi.? 

Sanyasi 
Not only to me; it would be death to all. 

Woman 
I do not understand you. 

Sanyasi 
She can never be dead. 



MALINI 



TO MY NIECE INDIRA DEVI 



MALINI 

ACT I 

The Balcony of the Palace facing the street 

Malini 
The moment has come for me, and my 
life, hke the dew drop upon a lotus leaf, 
is trembling upon the heart of this great 
time. I shut my eyes and seem to hear 
the tumult of the sky, and there is an 
anguish in my heart, I know not for what. 

Enters Queen 

Queen 

My child, what is this? Why do you for- 
get to put on dresses that befit your beauty 
and youth? Where are your ornaments? 
My beautiful dawn, how can you absent 
the touch of gold from your limbs? 

Malini 
Mother, there are some who are born 
poor, even in a king's house. Wealth does 
45 



46 SACRIFICE 

not cling to those whose destiny it is to 
find riches in poverty. 

Queen 
That the child whose only language was 
the baby cry should talk to me in such 
riddles! — My heart quakes in fear when 
I listen to you. Where did you pick up 
your new creed, which goes against all 
our holy books.'* My child, they say that 
the Buddhist monks, from whom you 
take your lessons, practice black arts; 
that they cast their spells upon men's 
minds, confounding them with lies. But 
I ask you, is religion a thing that one has 
to find by seeking .^^ Is it not like sunlight, 
given to you for all days.^* I am a simple 
woman. I do not understand men's creeds 
and dogmas. I only know that women's 
true objects of worship come to their 
own arms, without asking, in the shape 
of their husbands and their children. 

Enters King 
Kiyig 
My daughter, storm clouds are gather- 
ing over the King's house. Go no farther 



MALINI 47 

along your perilous path. Pause, if only 
for a short time. 

Queen 
What dark words are these? 

King 
My foolish child, if you must bring your 
new creed into this land of the old, let it 
not come like a sudden flood threatening 
those who dwell on the bank. Keep your 
faith to your own self. Rake not up public 
hatred and mockery against it. 

Queen 
Do not chide my girl, and teach her the 
crookedness of your diplomacy. If my 
child should choose her own teachers and 
pursue her own path, I do not know who 
can blame her. 

King 
Queen, my people are agitated, they 
clamour for my daughter's banishment. 

Queen 
Banishment? Of your own daughter? 



48 SACRIFICE 

King 
The Brahmins, frightened at her heresy, 
have combined, and — 

Queen 
Heresy indeed. Are all truths confined 
only in their musty, old books? Let them 
fling away their worm-eaten creeds, and 
come and take their lessons from this 
child. I tell you. King, she is not a com- 
mon girl, — she is a pure flame of fire. 
Some divine spirit has taken birth in her. 
Do not despise her, lest some day you 
strike your forehead, and weep, and find 
her no more. 

Malini 

Father, grant to your people their 
request. The great moment has come. 
Banish me. 

King 

Why, child? What want do you feel 
in your father's house? 

Malini 
Listen to me, father. Those, who cry 
for my banishment, cry for me. Mother^ 



MALINI 49 

I have no words in which to tell you what 
I have in my mind. Leave me without 
regret, like the tree that sheds its flowers 
unheeding. Let me go out to all men, — 
for the world has claimed me from the 
King's hands. 

King 
Child, I do not understand you. 

Malini 
Father, you are a King. Be strong and 
fulfil 3^our mission. 

Queen 
Child, is there no place for you here, 
where you were born? Is the burden of 
the world waiting for your little shoulders .^^ 

Malini 
I dream, while I am awake, that the 
wind is wild, and the water is troubled; 
the night is dark, and the boat is moored 
in the haven. Where is the captain, who 
shall take the wanderers home.f* I feel 
I know the path, and the boat will thrill 
with life at my touch, and speed on. 



50 SACRIFICE 

Queen 
Do you hear. King? Whose words are 
these? Do they come from this Kttle girl? 
Is she your daughter, and have I borne 
her? 

King 

Yes, even as the night bears the dawn, — 
the dawn that is not of the night, but of 
all the world. 

Queen 

King, have you nothing to keep her 
bound to your house, — this image of 
light? — My darling, your hair has come 
loose on your shoulders. Let me bind 
it up. — ^Do they talk of banishment. 
King? If this be a part of their creed, 
then let come the new religion, and let 
those Brahmins be taught afresh what is 
truth. 

King 

Queen, let us take away our child from 
this balcony. Do you see the crowd gath- 
ering in the street? 

[They all go out 



MALINI 51 

Enter a crowd of Brahmins, in the street, 
before the palace balcony. 

[They shout 
Brahmins 

Banishment of the King's daughter! 

Kemankar 

Friends, keep your resolution firm. The 
woman, as an enemy, is to be dreaded 
more than all others. For reason is futile 
against her and forces are ashamed; man's 
power gladly surrenders itself to her 
powerlessness, and she takes her shelter 
in the strongholds of our own hearts. 

1st Brahmin 

We must have audience with our King, 
to tell him that a snake has raised its 
poisonous hood from his own nest, and is 
aiming at the heart of our sacred religion. 

Supriya 

Religion? I am stupid. I do not under- 
stand you. Tell me, sir, is it your religion 
that claims the banishment of an innocent 
girl? 



52 SACRIFICE 

1st Brahmin 

You are a marplot, Supriya, you are 
ever a hindrance to all our enterprises. 

2nd Brahmin 

We have united in defence of our faith, 
and you come like a subtle rift in the 
wall, like a thin smile on the compressed 
lips of contempt. 

Supriya 

You think that, by the force of numbers, 
you will determine truth, and drown 
reason by your united shouts? 

1st Brahmin 
This is rank insolence, Supriya. 

Supriya 

The insolence is not mine but theirs who 
shape their scripture to fit their own nar- 
row hearts. 

2nd Brahmin 
Drive him out. He is none of us. 



MALINI 53 

1st Brahmin 

We have all agreed upon the banish- 
ment of the Princess. — He who thinks 
differently, let him leave this assembly. 

Supriya 

Brahmins, it was a mistake on your 
part to elect me as one of your league. 
I am neither your shadow, nor an echo of 
your texts. I never admit that truth 
sides with the shrillest voice and I am 
ashamed to own as mine a creed that de- 
pends on force for its existence. {To 
Kemankar.) Dear friend, let me go. 

Kemankar 

No, I will not. I know you are firm in 
your action, only doubting when you 
debate. Keep silence, my friend; for the 
time is evil. 

Supriya 

Of all things the blind certitude of stu- 
pidity is the hardest to bear. To think of 
saving your religion by banishing a girl 
from her home! But let me know what 



54 SACRIFICE 

is her offence. Does she not maintain 
that truth and love are the body and soul 
of religion? If so, is that not the essence 
of all creeds? 

Kemankar 

Religion is one in its essence, but dif- 
ferent in its forms. The water is one, 
yet by its different banks it is bounded 
and preserved for different peoples. What 
if you have a well-spring of your own in 
your heart, spurn not your neighbours 
who must go for their draught of water 
to their ancestral pond with the green 
of its gradual slopes mellowed by ages 
and its ancient trees bearing eternal fruit. 

Swpriya 

I shall follow you, my friend, as I have 
ever done in my life, and not argue. 

Enters third Brahmin 

3rd Brahmin 

I have good news. Our words have 
prevailed, and the King's army is about 
to take our side openly. 



MALINI 55 

2nd Brahmin 
The army? — I do not quite like it. 

1st Brahmin 
Nor do I. It smells of rebellion. 

2nd Brahmin 
Kemankar, I am not for such extreme 
measures. 

1st Brahmin 
Our faith will give us victory, not our 
arms. Let us make penance, and recite 
sacred verses. Let us call on the names 
of our guardian gods. 

2nd Brahmin 

Come, Goddess, whose wrath is the 
sole weapon of thy worshippers, deign to 
take form and crush even to dust the blind 
pride of unbelievers. Prove to us the 
strength of our faith, and lead us to vic- 
tory. 

All 

We invoke thee. Mother, descend from 
thy heavenly heights and do thy work 
among mortals. 



56 SACRIFICE 

Enters Malini 

Malini 

I have come. (They all bow to her, ex- 
cept Kemankar and Supriya, who stand 
aloof and watch.) 

2nd Brahmin 

Goddess. — Thou hast come at last, as a 
daughter of man, withdrawing all thy 
terrible power into the tender beauty of 
a girl. Whence hast thou come. Mother? 
What is thy wish? 

Malini 

I have come down to my exile at your 
call, 

2nd Brahmin 

To exile from heaven, because thy chil- 
dren of earth have called thee? 

1st Brahmin 

Forgive us, Mother. Utter ruin threat- 
ens this world and it cries aloud for thy 
help. 



MALINI 57 

Malini 
I will never desert you. I always knew 
that your doors were open for me. The 
cry went from you for my banishment 
and I woke up, amidst the wealth and 
pleasure of the King's house. 

Kemanhar 
The Princess. 

All 
The King's daughter. 

Malini 
I am exiled from my home, so that I 
may make your home my own. Yet tell 
me truly, have you need of me? When I 
lived in seclusion, a lonely girl, did you 
call to me from the outer world .^ Was it 
no dream of mine.^ 

1st Brahmin 
Mother, you have come, and taken your 
seat in the heart of our hearts. 

Malini 
I was born in a King's house, never 
once looking out from my window. I had 



58 SACRIFICE 

heard that it was a sorrowing world, — the 
world out of my reach. But I did not 
know where it felt its pain. Teach me 
to find this out. 



1st Brahmin 

Your sweet voice brings tears to our 
eyes. 

Malini 

The moon has just come out of those 
clouds. Great peace is in the sky. It 
seems to gather all the world in its arms, 
under the fold of one vast moonlight. 
There goes the road, losing itself among 
the solemn trees with their still shadows. 
There are the houses, and there the temple; 
the river bank in the distance looks dim 
and desolate. I seem to have come down, 
like a sudden shower from a cloud of 
dreams, into this world of men, by the 
roadside 

1st Brahmin 
You are the divine soul of this world. 



MALINI 59 

Snd Brahmin 
AVhy did not our tongues burst in pain, 
when they shouted for your banishment? 

1st Brahmin 
Come, Brahmins, let us restore our 
Mother to her home. 

[They shout. 
Victory to the Mother of the world! Vic- 
tory to the Mother in the heart of the 
Man's daughter! 

[Malini goes, surrounded by them. 

Kemankar 
Let the illusion vanish. Where are you 
going, Supriya, like one walking in his 
sleep? 

Swpriya 
Leave hold of me, let me go. 

Kemankar 
Control yourself. Will you, too, fly 
into the fire with the rest of the blinded 
swarm? 

Swpriya 
Was it a dream, Kemankar? 



60 SACRIFICE 

Kemankar 

It was nothing but a dream. Open your 
eyes, and wake up. 

Supriya 

Your hope of heaven is false, Keman- 
kar. Vainly have I wandered in the 
wilderness of doctrines, — I never found 
peace. The God, who belongs to the 
multitude, and the God of the books are 
not my own God. These never answered 
my questions and never consoled me. 
But, at last, I have found the divine 
breathing and alive in the living world of 
men. 

Kemankar 

Alas, my friend, it is a fearful moment 
when a man's heart deceives him. Then 
blind desire becomes his gospel and fancy 
usurps the dread throne of his gods. Is 
yonder moon, lying asleep among soft 
fleecy clouds, the true emblem of ever- 
lasting reality? The naked day will come 
to-morrow, and the hungry crowd begin 
again to drag the sea of existence with 



MALINI 61 

their thousand nets. And then this moon- 
light night will hardly be remembered, 
but as a thin film of unreality made of 
sleep and shadows and delusions. The 
magic web, woven of the elusive charms 
of a woman, is like that, — and can it take 
the place of highest truth .^^ Can any 
creed, born of your fancy, satisfy the 
gaping thirst of the midday, when it is 
wide awake in its burning heat? 

Supriya 
Alas, I know not. 

Kemanhar 
Then shake yourself up from your 
dreams, and look before you. The an- 
cient house is on fire, whose nurslings are 
the ages. The spirits of our forefathers 
are hovering over the impending ruins, 
like crying birds over their perishing 
nests. Is this the time for vacillation, 
when the night is dark, the enemies knock- 
ing at the gate, the citizens asleep, and 
men drunken with delusions laying their 
hands upon their brothers' throats .f* 



62 SACRIFICE 

Supriya 
I will stand by you. 

Kemankar 
I must go away from here. 

Supriya 
Where? And for what? 

Kemankar 
To foreign lands. I shall bring soldiers 
from outside. For this conflagration cries 
for blood, to be quenched. 

Supriya 
But our own soldiers are ready. 

Kemankar 
Vain is all hope of help from them. 
They, like moths, are already leaping into 
the fire. Do you not hear how they are 
shouting like fools? The whole town has 
gone mad, and is lighting her festival 
lamps at the funeral pyre of her own 
sacred faith. 

Supriya 

If you must go, take me with you. 



MALINI 63 

Kemankar 
No. You remain here, to watch and 
keep me informed. But, friend, let your 
heart be not drawn away from me by the 
novelty of the falsehood. 

Supriya 

Falsehood is new, but our friendship is 
old. We have ever been together from 
our childhood. This is our first separa- 
tion. 

Kemankar 

May it prove our last! In evil 
times the strongest bonds give way. 
Brothers strike brothers and friends turn 
against friends. I go out into the dark, 
and in the darkness of night I shall come 
back to the gate. Shall I find my friend 
watching for me, with the lamp lighted.'^ 
I take away that hope with me. 

[They go. 

Enter King, with the Prince, in the balcony. 

King 
I fear I must decide to banish my 
daughter. 



64 SACRIFICE 

Prince 
Yes, Sire, delay will be dangerous. 

King 
Gently, my son, gently. Never doubt 
that I will do my duty. Be sure I will 
banish her. 

[Prince goes. 

Enters Queen 
Tell me. King, where is she? Have you 
hidden her, even from me? 

King 
Whom? 

Queen 
My Malini. 

King 
What? Is she not in her room? 

Queen 
No, I cannot find her. Go with your 
soldiers and search for her through all 
the town, from house to house. The 
citizens have stolen her. Banish them 
all. Empty the whole town, till they 
return her. 



MALINI Q5 

King 
I will bring her back, — even if my 
Kingdom goes to ruin. 
[The Brahmins and soldiers bring Malini, 
with torches lighted. 

Queen 
My darling, my cruel child. I never 
keep my eyes off you, — how could you 
evade me, and go out? 

2nd Brahmin 
Do not be angry with her, Queen. She 
came to our home to give us her blessings. 

1st Brahmin 
Is she only yours? And does she not 
belong to us as well? 

2nd Brahmin 
Our little mother, do not forget us. 
You are our star, to lead us across the 
pathless sea of life. 

Malini 
My door has been opened for you. These 
walls will nevermore separate us. 



66 SACRIFICE 

Brahmins 
Blessed are we, and the land where we 
were born. 

[They go. 

Malini 

Mother, I have brought the outer 
world into your house. I seem to have 
lost the bounds of my body. I am one 
with the life of this world. 

Queen 

Yes, child. Now you shall never need 
to go out. Bring in the world to you, 
and to your mother. — It is close upon the 
second watch of the night. Sit here. 
Calm yourself. This flaming life in you 
is burning out all sleep from your eyes. 

Malini 

{Embracing her mother.) Mother, I am 
tired. My body is trembling. So vast is 
this world. — Mother dear, sing me to 
sleep. Tears come to my eyes, and a sad- 
ness descends upon my heart. 



MALINI 67 



ACT II 

The Palace Garden 
Malini and Supriya 

Malini 

What can I say to you? I do not know 
how to argue. I have not read your books. 

Supriya 

I am learned only among the fools of 
learning. I have left all arguments and 
books behind me. Lead me, princess, 
and I shall follow you, as the shadow fol- 
lows the lamp. 

Malini 

But, Brahmin, when you question me, 
I lose all my power and do not know how 
to answer you. It is a wonder to me to 
see that even you, who know everything, 
come to me with your questions. 



68 SACRIFICE 

Supriya 
Not for knowledge I come to you. Let 
me forget all that I have ever known. 
Roads there are, without number, but the 
light is missing. 

Malini 
Alas, sir, the more you ask me, the 
more I feel my poverty. Where is that 
voice in me, which came down from 
heaven, like an unseen flash of lightning, 
into my heart .^ Why did you not come 
that day, but keep away in doubt.? Now 
that I have met the world face to face 
my heart has grown timid, and I do not 
know how to hold the helm of the great 
ship that I must guide. I feel I am alone, 
and the world is large, and ways are many, 
and the light from the sky comes of a 
sudden to vanish the next moment. You 
who are wise and learned, will you help 
me? 

Supriya 
I shall deem myself fortunate, if you 
ask my help. 



MALINI 69 

Malini 
There are times when despair comes to 
choke all the life-currents; when sud- 
denly, amidst crowds of men, my eyes 
turn upon myself and I am frightened. 
Will you befriend me in those moments 
of blankness, and utter me one word of 
hope that will bring me back to life? 

Supriya 
I shall keep myself ready. I shall make 
my heart simple and pure, and my mind 
peaceful, to be able truly to serve you. 

Enters Attendant 

Attendant 
The citizens have come, asking to see 
you. 

Malini 
Not to-day. Ask their pardon for me. 
I must have time to fill my exhausted 
mind, and have rest to get rid of 
weariness. 

[Attendant goes. 
Tell me again about Kemankar, your 



70 SACRIFICE 

friend. I long to know what your life has 
been and its trials. 

Supriya 
Kemankar is my friend, my brother, 
my master. His mind has been firm and 
strong, from early days, while my thoughts 
are always flickering with doubts. Yet 
he has ever kept me close to his heart, as 
the moon does its dark spots. But, how- 
ever strong a ship may be, if it harbours 
a small hole in its bottom, it must sink. — 
That I would make you sink, Kemankar, 
was in the law of nature. 

Malini 
You made him sink.'^ 

Supriya 
Yes, I did. The day when the rebellion 
slunk away in shame before the light in 
your face and the music in the air that 
touched you, Kemankar alone was un- 
moved. He left me behind him, and said 
that he must go to the foreign land to 
bring soldiers, and uproot the new creed 



MALINI 71 

from the sacred soil of Kaslii. — You know 
what followed. You made me live again 
in a new land of birth. "Love for all 
life" was a mere word, waiting from the 
old time to be made real,— and I saw that 
truth in you in flesh. My heart cried for 
my friend, but he was away, out of my 
reach; then came his letter, in which he 
wrote that he was coming with a foreign 
army at his back, to wash away the new 
faith in blood, and to punish you with 
death. — I could wait no longer. I showed 
the letter to the King. 

Malini 
Why did you forget yourself, Supriya? 
Why did fear overcome you.^ Have I 
not room enough in my house for him 
and his soldiers? 

Enters King 

King 

Come to my arms, Supriya, I went at 

a fit time to surprise Kemankar and to 

capture him. An hour later, and a 

thunder-bolt would have burst upon my 



72 SACRIFICE 

house in my sleep. You are my friend, 
Supriya, come — 

Supriya 
God forgive me. 

King 
Do you not know, that a King's love is 
not unsubstantial .f^ I give you leave to 
ask for any reward that comes to your 
mind. Tell me, what do you want.? 

Supriya 
Nothing, Sire, nothing. I shall live, 
begging from door to door. 

King 
Only ask me, and you shall have prov- 
inces worthy to tempt a king. 

Supriya 
They do not tempt me. 

King 
I understand you. I know towards 
what moon you raise your hands. Mad 
youth, be brave to ask even that which 



MALINI 73 

seems so impossible. ^Tiy are you silent? 
Do you remember the day when you 
prayed for my Malini's banishment? Will 
you repeat that prayer to me, to lead my 
daughter to exile from her father's house? — 
My daughter, do you know that you owe 
your life to this noble youth? And is it hard 
for you to pay off that debt with your — ? 

Swpriya 
For pity's sake, Sire, no more of this. 
Worshippers there are many who by life- 
long devotion have gained the highest 
fulfilment of their desire. Could I be 
counted one of them I should be happy. 
But to accept it from the King's hands 
as the reward of treachery? Lady mine, 
you have the plenitude and peace of your 
greatness; you know not the secret crav- 
ings of a poverty-stricken soul. I dare 
not ask from you an atom more than 
that pity of love which you have for every 
creature in the world. 

Malini 
Father, what is your punishment for 
the captive? 



74 SACRIFICE 

King 
He shall die. 

Malini 
On my knees I beg from you his pardon. 

King 
But he is a rebel, my child. 

Supriya 

Do you judge him. King? He also 
judged you, when he came to punish you, 
not to rob your kingdom. 

Malini 

Spare him his life, father. Then only 
will you have the right to bestow on him 
your friendship, who has saved you from 
a great peril. 

King 

What do you say, Supriya? Shall I 
restore a friend to his friend's arms? 

Supriya 
That will be king-like in its grace. 



MALINI 75 

King 
It will come in its time, and you will 
find back your friend. But a King's 
generosity must not stop there. I must 
give you something which exceeds your 
hope, — yet not as a mere reward. You 
have won my heart, and my heart is ready 
to offer you its best treasure. — My child, 
where was this shyness in you before now.^^ 
Your dawn had no tint of rose, — its light 
was white and dazzling. But to-day a 
tearful mist of tenderness sweetly tempers 
it for mortal eyes. {To Supriya.) Leave 
my feet, rise up and come to my heart. 
Happiness is pressing it like pain. Leave 
me now for a while. I want to be alone 
with my Malini. (Supriya goes.) I feel 
I have found back my child once again, — 
not the bright star of the sky, but the 
sweet flower that blossoms on earthly soil. 
She is my daughter, the darling of my 
heart. 

Enters Attendant 

Attendant 
The captive, Kemankar, is at the door. 



76 SACRIFICE 

King 
Bring him in. Here comes he, with his 
eyes fixed, his proud head held high, a 
brooding shadow on his forehead, Hke a 
thunder cloud motionless in a suspended 
storm. 

Malini 
The iron chain is shamed of itself upon 
those limbs. The insult to greatness is its 
own insult. He looks like a god defying 
his captivity. 

Enters Kemanela^r in chains 

King 
What punishment do you expect from 
my hands.? 

Kemanhar 
Death. 

King 
But if I pardon you.? 

Kemanhar 
Then I shall have time again to com- 
plete the work I began. 



MALINI 77 

King 
You seem out of love with your life. 
Tell me your last wish, if you have any. 

Kemankar 
I want to see my friend, Supriya, before 
I die. 

King 
{To the attendant.) Ask Supriya to come. 

Malini 
There is a power in that face that 
frightens me. Father, do not let Supriya 
come. 

King 
Your fear is baseless, child. 
[Supriya enters, and walks towards 
Kemankar, with arms extended. 

Kemankar 
No, no, not yet. First let us have our 
say, and then the greeting of love. — Come 
closer to me. You know I am poor in 
words, — and my time is short. My trial 
is over, but not yours. Tell me, why have 
you done this? 



7& SACRIFICE 

Swpriya 

Friend, you will not understand me. 
I had to keep my faith, even at the cost 
of my love. 

Kemankar 

I understand you, Supriya. I have 
seen that girl's face, glowing with an inner 
light, looking like a voice becoming visible. 
You offered, to the fire of those eyes, the 
faith in your fathers' creed, the faith in 
your country's good, and built up a new 
one on the foundation of a treason. 

Swpriya 

Friend, you are right. My faith has 
come to me perfected in the form of that 
woman. Your sacred books were dumb 
to me. I have read, by the help of the 
light of those eyes, the ancient book of 
creation, and I have known that true 
faith is there, where there is man, where 
there is love. It comes from the mother 
in her devotion, and it goes back to her 
from her child. It descends in the gift of 



MALINI 79 

a giver and it appears in the heart of him 
who takes it. I accepted the bond of this 
faith which reveals the infinite in man, 
when I set my eyes upon that face full 
of light and love and peace of hidden 
wisdom. 

Kemanhar 
I also once set my eyes on that face, and 
for a moment dreamt that religion had 
come at last, in the form of a woman, to 
lead man's heart to heaven. For a mo- 
ment, music broke out from the very ribs 
of my breast and all my life's hopes blos- 
somed in their fulness. Yet did not I 
break through these meshes of illusion to 
wander in foreign lands .^^ Did not I 
suffer humiliation from unworthy hands 
in patience, and bear the pain of separa- 
tion from you, who have been my friend 
from my infancy .^^ And what have you 
been doing meanwhile .^^ You sat in the 
shade of the King's garden, and spent your 
sweet leisure in idly weaving a lie to con- 
done your infatuation and calling it a 
religion. 



80 SACRIFICE 

Supriya 

My friend, is not this world wide enough 
to hold men whose natures are widely 
different? Those countless stars of the 
sky, do they fight for the mastery of the 
One? Cannot faiths hold their separate 
lights in peace for the separate worlds of 
minds that need them? 

Kemankar 

Words, mere words. To let falsehood 
and truth live side by side in amity, the 
infinite world is not wide enough. That 
the corn ripening for the food of man 
should make room for thorny weeds, love 
is not so hatefully all-loving. That one 
should be allowed to sap the sure ground 
of friendship with betrayal of trust, could 
tolerance be so traitorously wide as that? 
That one should die like a thief to defend 
his faith and the other live in honour and 
wealth who betrayed it — no, no, the world 
is not so stony-hard as to bear without 
pain such hideous contradictions in its 
bosom. 



MALINI 81 

Swpriya 

(To Malini.) All these hurts and insults 
I accept in your name, my lady. Keman- 
kar, you are paying your life for your 
faith, — I am paying more. It is your 
love, dearer than my life. 

Kemankar 

No more of this prating. All truths 
must be tested in death's court. My 
friend, do you remember our student days 
when we used to wrangle the whole night 
through, to come at last to our teacher, 
in the morning, to know in a moment 
which of us was right.? Let that morning 
break now. Let us go there to that land 
of the final, and stand before death with 
all our questions, where the changing 
mist of doubts will vanish at a breath, 
and the mountain peaks of eternal truth 
will appear, and we two fools will look at 
each other and laugh. — ^Dear friend, bring 
before death that which you deem your 
best and immortal. 



82 SACRIFICE 

Supriya 
Friend, let it be as you wish. 

Kemanhar 

Then come to my heart. You had 
wandered far from your comrade, in the 
infinite distance, — now, dear friend, come 
eternally close to me, and accept from one, 
who loves you, the gift of death. (Strikes 
SupRiYA with his chains, and Supriya 
falls.) 

Kemanhar 

{Embracing the dead body of Supriya.) 
Now call your executioner. 

King 
(Rising up.) Where is my sword? 

Malini 
Father, forgive Kemankar! 



SACRIFICE 



I DEDICATE THIS PLAY 

TO THOSE HEROES WHO 

BRAVELY STOOD FOR PEACE 

WHEN HUMAN SACRIFICE 

WAS CLAIMED FOR THE 

GODDESS OF WAR 



SACRIFICE 

A temple of the Goddess Kali in Tripura, 
Enters Gunavati, the Queen 

Gunavati 

Have I offended thee, dread Mother? 
Thou grantest children to the beggar 
woman, who sells them to live, and to the 
adulteress, who kills them to save herself 
from infamy, and here I am, the Queen, 
with all the world lying at my feet, hanker- 
ing in vain for the baby-touch at my 
bosom, to feel the stir of a dearer life 
within my life. What sin have I com- 
mitted. Mother, to merit this, to be ban- 
ished from the mothers' heaven? 

Enters Raghupati, the priest 

O Master, have I ever been remiss in 
my worship? and my husband, is he not 
godlike in his purity? Then why has the 
85 



86 SACRIFICE 

Goddess, who weaves the web of this 
world-illusion, assigned my place in the 
barren waste of childlessness? 

Raghupati 
Our Mother is all caprice, she knows no 
law, our sorrows and joys are mere freaks 
of her mind. Have patience, daughter, 
to-day we shall offer special sacrifice in 
your name to please her. 

Gnnavati 

Accept my grateful obeisance, father. 

My offerings are already on their way to 

the temple, — red bunches of hybiscus and 

beasts of sacrifice. [They go out. 

Enter Govinda, the King; Jaising, the 
servant of temple; and Aparna, the 
beggar girl. 

Jaising 
What is your wish, Sire.^* 

Govinda 
Is it true that this poor girl's pet goat 
has been brought by force to the temple 



SACRIFICE 87 

to be killed? Will Mother accept such 
a gift with grace? 

Jaising 

King, how are we to know whence the 
servants collect our daily offerings of 
worship? But, my child, why is this 
weeping? Is it worthy of you to shed 
tears for that which Mother herseK has 
taken? 

Aparna 

Mother! I am his mother. If I return 
late to my hut, he refuses his grass, and 
bleats, with his eyes on the road. I take 
him up in my arms, when I come, and 
share my food with him. He knows no 
mother but me. 

Jaising 

Sire, could I make the goat live again, 
by giving up a portion of my life, gladly 
would I do it. But how can I restore that 
which Mother herself has taken? 

Ajparna 
Mother has taken? It is a lie. Not 
mother, but demon. 



88 SACRIFICE 

Jaising 
O, the blasphemy! 

Aparna 

Mother, art thou there to rob a poor 
girl of her love? Then where is the throne, 
before which to condemn thee? Tell me, 
King. 

Govinda 

I am silent, my child. I have no answer. 

Aparna 

This blood-streak running down the 
steps, is it his? O my darling, when you 
trembled and cried for dear life, why did 
your call not reach my heart through the 
whole deaf world? 

Jaising 

[To the image.] I have served thee from 
my infancy. Mother Kali, yet I under- 
stand thee not. Does pity only belong to 
weak mortals, and not to gods? Come 
with me, my child, let me do for you what 



SACRIFICE 89 

I can. Help must come from man, when 
it is denied from gods. 

[All go out hut the King, 

Enter Raghupati; Nakshatra, y)ho is the 
King's brother; and the courtiers 

All 
Victory be to the King! 

Govinda 
Know you all, that I forbid shedding of 
blood in the temple from to-day for ever. 

Minister 
You forbid sacrifice to the Goddess? 

General Nay an Rai 
Forbid sacrifice? 

Nakshatra 
How terrible! Forbid sacrifice? 

Raghupati 
Is it a dream? 



90 SACRIFICE 

Govinda 

No dream, father. It is awakening. 
Mother came to me, in a girl's disguise, 
and told me that blood she cannot suffer. 

Raghupati 
She has been drinking blood for ages. 
Whence comes this loathing all of a sud- 
den .^^ 

Govinda 
No, she never drank blood, she kept 
her face averted. 

Raghupati 
I warn you, think and consider. You 
have no power to alter laws laid down in 
scriptures. 

Govinda 
God's words are above all laws. 

Raghupati 
Do not add pride to your folly. Do you 
have the effrontery to say that you alone 
have heard God's words, and not I.^^ 



SACRIFICE 91 

Nalcshatra 
It is strange, that the King should have 
heard from gods and not the priest. 

Govinda 
God's words are ever ringing in the 
world, and he who is wilfully deaf cannot 
hear them. 

Raghupati 

Atheist! Apostate! 

Govinda 
Father, go to your morning service, and 
declare to all worshippers that hence- 
forward they will be punished with banish- 
ment who shed creatures' blood in their 
worship of the Mother of all creatures. 

Raghupati 
Is this your last word? 

Govinda 
Yes. 



92 SACRIFICE 

Raghupati 
Then curse upon you! Do you, in your 
enormous pride, imagine that the Goddess, 
dwelling in your land, is your subject? 
Do you presume to bind her with your 
laws and rob her of her dues? You shall 
never do it. I declare it, — I who am her 
servant. 

[Goes. 
Nay an Rai 
Pardon me, Sire, but have you the right? 

Minister 
King, is it too late to revoke your order? 

Govinda 
We dare not delay to uproot sin from 
our realm. 

Minister 
Sin can never have such a long lease of 
life. Could they be sinful, — the rites that 
have grown old at the feet of the Goddess? 

[The King is silent. 

Nakshatra 
Indeed they could not be. 



SACRIFICE 93 

Minister 
Our ancestors have performed these 
rites with reverence; can you have the 
heart to insult them? 

[The King remains silent, 

Nayan Rai 
That which has the sanction of ages, 
do you have the right to remove it? 

Govinda 
No more doubts and disputes. Go and 
spread my order in all my lands. 

Minister 
But, Sire, the Queen has offered her 
sacrifice for this morning's worship; it is 
come near the temple gate. 

Govinda 
Send it back. [He goes.] 

Minister 
What is this? 



94 SACRIFICE 

Nakshatra 
Are we, then, to come down to the level 
of Buddhists, and treat animals as if they 
have their right to live? Preposterous! 

[They all go out 

Enters Raghupati, — J aiding following him 
with ajar of water to wash his feet. 

Jaising 
Father. 

Raghupati 
Go! 

Jaising 
Here is some water. 

Raghupati 
No need of it! 

Jaising 
Your clothes. 

Raghupati 
Take them away! 



SACRIFICE 95 

Jaising 
Have I done anything to offend you? 

Raghupati 

Leave me alone. The shadows of evil 
have thickened. The King's throne is 
raising its insolent head above the temple 
altar. Ye Gods of these degenerate days, 
are ye ready to obey the King's laws with 
bowed heads, fawning upon him like his 
courtiers.^ 

Jaising 

Whatever has happened, father? 

Raghupati 
I cannot find words to say. Ask the 
Mother Goddess who has been defied. 

Jaising 
Defied? By whom? 

Raghupati 
By King Govinda. 

Jaising 
King Govinda defied Mother Kali? 



96 SACRIFICE 

Raghupati 

Defied you and me, all scriptures, all 

countries, all time, defied Mahakali, the 

Goddess of the endless stream of time, — 

sitting upon that puny little throne of his. 

Jaising 
Xing Govinda? 

Raghupati 
Yes, yes, your King Govinda, the darling 
of your heart. Ungrateful! I have given 
all my love to bring you up, and yet King 
Govinda is dearer to you than I am. 

Jaising 
The child raises its arms to the full 
moon, sitting upon his father's lap. You 
are my father and my full moon is King 
Govinda. Then is it true, what I hear 
from people, that our King forbids all 
sacrifice in the temple.? But in this we 
cannot obey him. 

Raghupati 
Banishment is for him who does not 
obey. 



SACRIFICE 97 

Jaising 

It is no calamity to be banished from a 
land where Mother's worship remains 
incomplete. No, so long as I live, the 
service of the temple shall be fully per- 
formed. 

[They go out. 

Enter Gunavati and her attendant 

Gunavati 

What is it you say? The Queen's sacri- 
fice turned away from the temple gate? 
Is there a man in this land who carries 
more than one head on his shoulders, that 
he could dare think of it? Who is that 
doomed creature? 

Attendant 
I am afraid to name him. 

Gunavati 

Afraid to name him, when I ask you? 
Whom do you fear more than me? 



98 SACRIFICE 

Attendant 
Pardon me. 

Gunavati 
Give my salutation to the priest, and 
ask him to come. 

[Attendant goes out. 

Enters Govinda 

Gunavati 
Have you heard, King.? My offerings 
have been sent back from Mother's 
temple. 

Govinda 
I know it. 

Gunavati 
You know it, and yet bear the insult.'^ 

Govinda 
I beg to ask your pardon for the culprit. 

Gunavati 
I know, King, your heart is merciful, 
but this is no mercy. It is feebleness. If 
your kindness hampers you, leave the 



SACRIFICE 99 

punishment in my hand. Only, tell me, 
who is he? 

Govinda 
It is I, my Queen. My crime is in 
nothing else but having given you pain. 

Gunavati 
I do not understand you. 

Govinda 
From to day shedding of blood in gods' 
temples is forbidden in my land. 

Gunavati 
Who forbids it.^^ 

Govinda 
Mother herself. 

Gunavati 
"Who heard it.^^ 

Govinda 
I. 



100 SACRIFICE 

Gunavati 
You! That makes me laugh. The 
Queen of all the world comes to the gate 
of Tripura's King with her petition. 

Govinda 
Not with her petition, but with her 
sorrow. 

Gunavati 
Your dominion is outside the temple 
limit. Do not send your commands there, 
where they are impertinent. 

Govinda 
The command is not mine, it is Mother's. 

Gunavati 
If you have no doubt in your decision, 
do not cross my faith. Let me perform 
my worship according to my light. 

Govinda 
1 promised my Goddess to prevent sacri- 
fice of life in her temple, and I must carry 
it out. 



SACRIFICE 101 

Gunavati 
I also promised my Goddess the blood 
of three hundred kids and one hundred 
buffaloes, and I will carry it out. You 
may leave me now. 

Govinda 
As you wish. [He goes out 

Enters Raghupati 

Gunavati 
My offerings have been turned back 
from the temple, father. 

Raghupati 
The worship offered by the most ragged 
of all beggars is not less precious than 
yours. Queen. But the misfortune is that 
Mother has been deprived. 

Gunavati 
What will come of all this, father.^ 

Raghupati 
That is only known to her who fashions 
this world with her dreams. But this is 



102 SACRIFICE 

certain, that the throne which casts its 
shadow upon Mother's shrine will burst 
like a bubble, vanishing in the void. 

Gunavati 
Have mercy and save us, father. 

Raghupati 
Ha, ha I I am to save you, — you, the 
consort of a King who boasts of his king- 
dom on the earth and in heaven as well, 
before whom the gods and the Brahmins 
must — Oh, shame! Oh, the evil age, when 
the Brahmin's futile curse recoils upon 
himself, to sting him into madness. [About 
to tear his sacrificial thread.] 

Gunavati 
[Preventing him.] Have mercy upon me. 

Raghupati 
Then give back to Brahmins what is 
theirs by right. 

Gunavati 
Yes, I will. Go, master, to your wor- 
ship, and nothing will hinder you. 



SACRIFICE 103 

Raghupati 
Indeed your favour overwhelms me. 
At the merest glance of your eyes gods 
are saved from ignominy and the Brahmin 
is restored to his sacred offices. Thrive 
and grow fat and sleek till the dire day 
of judgment comes. [Goes out.] 

Re-enters King Govinda 

Govinda 
My Queen, the shadow of your angry 
brows hides all light from my heart. 

Gunavati 
Go! Do not bring a curse upon this 
house. 

Govinda 
Woman's smile removes all curse from 
the house, her love is God's grace. 

Gunavati 

Go, and never show your face to me 
vagain. 



104 SACRIFICE 

Govinda 

I shall come back, my Queen, when you 
remember me. 

Gunavati 

[Clinging to the King's feet.] Pardon me. 
King. Have you become so hard, that 
you forget to respect woman's pride? Do 
you not know, beloved, that thwarted love 
takes the disguise of anger? 

Govinda 

I would die, if I lost my trust in you. 
I know, my love, that clouds are for 
moments only, and the sun is for all days. 

Gunavati 

Yes, the clouds will pass by, God's 
thunder will return to his armoury, and 
the sun of all days will shine upon the 
traditions of all time. Yes, my King, 
order it so, that Brahmins be restored 
to their rights, the Goddess to her offer- 
ings, and the King's authority to its 
earthly limits. 



SACRIFICE 105 

Govinda 

It is not the Brahmin's right to violate 
the eternal good. Creature's blood is 
not the offering for gods. And it is within 
the rights of the King and the peasant 
alike to maintain truth and righteousness. 

Gunavati 

I prostrate myself on the ground before 
you; I beg at your feet. The custom 
that comes through all ages is not the 
King's own. Like the heaven's air, it 
belongs to all men. Yet your Queen 
begs it of you, with clasped hands, in the 
name of your people. Can you still re- 
main silent, proud man, refusing entreat- 
ies of love in favour of duty which is 
doubtful.^ Then go, go, go from me. 

[They go. 

Enter Raghupati, Jaising and Nayan Rai 

Raghupati 

General, your devotion to Mother is 
well known. 



106 SACRIFICE 

Nayan Rai 
It runs through generations of my an- 
cestors. 

Raghupati 
Let this sacred love give you indomi- 
table courage. Let it make your sword- 
blade mighty as God's thunder, and win 
its place above all powers and positions 
of this world. 

Nayan Rai 
The Brahmin's blessings will never be 
in vain. 

Raghupati 
Then I bid you collect your soldiers and 
strike Mother's enemy down to the dust. 

Nayan Rai 
Tell me, father, who is the enemy .^ 

Raghupati 
Govinda. 

Nayan Rai 
Our King? 

Raghupati 
Yes, attack him with all your force. 



SACRIFICE 107 

Nayan Rai 
It is evil advice. Father, is this to try 
me? 

Raghupati 
Yes, it is to try you, to know for certain 
whose servant you are. Give up all hesi- 
tation. Know that the Goddess calls, and 
all earthly bonds must be severed. 

Nayan Rai 
I have no hesitation in my mind. I 
stand firm in my post, where my Goddess 
has placed me. 

Raghupati 
You are brave. 

Nayan Rai 
Am I the basest of Mother's servants, 
that the order should come for me to turn 
traitor.^ She herself stands upon the faith 
of man's heart. Can she ask me to break 
it.f^ Then to-day comes to dust the King, 
and to-morrow the Goddess herself. 



108 SACRIFICE 

Jaising 
Noble words. 

Raghupati 
The King, who has turned traitor to 
Mother, has lost all claims to your alle- 
giance. 

Nayan Rai 
Drive me not, father, into a wilderness 
of debates. I know only one path, — the 
straight path of faith and truth. This 
stupid servant of Mother shall never 
swerve from that highway of honour. 

[Goes out. 

Jaising 
Let us be strong in our faith as he is, 
master. Why ask the aid of soldiers.? We 
have the strength within ourselves for the 
task given to us from above. Open the 
temple gate wide, father. Sound the 
drum. Come, come, O citizens, to worship 
her, who takes all fear away from our 
hearts. Come, Mother's children. 

[Citizens come. 



SACRIFICE 109 

First Citizen 
Come, come, we are called. 

All 

Victory to Mother! 

[They sing and dance. 
The dread Mother dances naked in the 
battlefield. 
Her lolling tongue hums like a red flame 
of fire, 
Her dark tresses fly in the sky, sweeping 
away the sun and stars. 
Red streams of blood run from her cloud- 
black limbs. 
And the world trembles and cracks under her 
tread, 

Jaising 

Do you see the beasts of sacrifice coming 
towards the temple, driven by the Queen's 
attendants? 

[They cry. 

Victory to Mother! Victory to our 
Queen! 



no SACRIFICE 

Raghupati 
Jaising, make haste and get ready for 
the worship. 

Jaising 
Everything is ready, father. 

Raghupati 
Send a man to call Prince Nakshatra in 
my name. 

[Jaising goes. 

[Citizens sing and dance.] 

Enters King Govinda 
Silence, Raghupati! Do you dare to 
disregard my order? 

Raghupati 
Yes, I do. 

Govinda 
Then you are not for my land. 

Raghupati 
No, my land is there, where the King's 
crown kisses the dust. Ho! Citizens! 



SACRIFICE 111 

Let Mother's offerings be brought in 
here. 

[They heat drums, 

Govinda 
Silence! [To his attendants.] Ask my 
General to come. Raghupati, you drive 
me to call soldiers to defend God's right. 
I feel the shame of it; for the force of arms 
only reveals man's weakness. 

Enter General Nayan Rai and Chand- 
PAL, who is the second in comviand of 
the army. 

Govinda 
Stand here with your soldiers to prevent 
sacrifice of life in the temple. 

Nayan 
Pardon me, Sire. The King's servant 
is powerless in the temple of God. 

Govinda 
General, it is not for you to question my 
order. You are to carry out my words. 



112 SACRIFICE 

Their merits and demerits belong only to 
me. 

Nayan 

I am your servant, my King, but I am 
a man above all. I have reason and my 
religion. I have my King, — and also my 
God. 

Govinda 
Then surrender your sword to Chand- 
pal. He will protect the temple from 
pollution of blood. 

Nayan Rai 

Why to Chandpal? This sword was 
given to my forefathers by your royal 
ancestors. If you want it back, I will give 
it up to you. Be witness, my fathers, 
who are in the heroes' paradise, the sword 
that you made sacred with your loyal faith 
and bravery, I surrender to my King. 

[Goes out. 

Raghiipati 
The Brahmin's curse has begun its work 
already. 



SACRIFICE 113 

Enters Jaising 

Jaising 
The beasts have been made ready for 
the sacrifice. 

Govinda 
Sacrifice? 

Jaising 
[On his knees.] King, listen to my 
earnest entreaties. Do not stand in the 
way, hiding the Goddess, man as you are. 

Raghupati 
Shame, Jaising. Rise up and ask my 
pardon. I am your Master. Your place 
is at my feet, not the King's. Fool! Do 
you ask King's sanction to do God's serv- 
ice .^^ Leave alone the worship and the 
sacrifice. Let us wait and see how his 
pride prevails in the end. Come away. 

[They go out 

Enters Aparna, the beggar girl 

Aparna 
Where is Jaising? He is not here, but 
only you, — the image whom nothing can 



114 SACRIFICE 

move. You rob us of all our best without 
uttering a word. We pine for love, and 
die beggars for want of it. Yet it comes to 
you unasked, though you need it not. 
Like a grave, you hoard it under your 
miserly stone, keeping it from the use of 
the yearning world. Jaising, what happi- 
ness do you find from her.^ What can she 
speak to you.f^ O my heart, my famished 
heart ! 

Enters Raghupati 

Raghupati 
Who are you.^ 

Aparna 
I am a beggar girl. Where is Jaising .^^ 

Raghupati 
Leave this place at once. I know you 
are haunting this temple, to steal Jaising' s 
heart from the Goddess. 

Aparna 
Has the Goddess anything to fear from 
m.e? I fear her. 

[She goes out. 



SACRIFICE 115 

Enter Jaising and Prince Nakshatea 

Nakshatra 
Why have you called me? 

Raghupati 
Last night the Goddess told me in a 
dream, that you shall become king withm 

a week. 

Nakshatra 

Ha, ha, this is news indeed. 

Raghupati 
Yes, you shall be King. 

Nakshatra 
I cannot beUeve it. 

Raghupati 
You doubt my words? 

Nakshatra 
I do not want to doubt them. But 
suppose, by chance, it never comes to pass. 



116 SACRIFICE 

Raghupati 
No, it shall be true. 

Nakshatra 
But, tell me, how can it ever become 
true? 

Raghupati 
The Goddess thirsts for King's blood. 

Nakshatra 
King's blood.? 

Raghupati 
You must offer it to her before you can 
be king. 

Nakshatra 
I know not where to get it. 

Raghupati 
There is King Govinda. — Jaising, keep 
still. — Do you understand? Kill him in 
secret. Bring his blood, while warm, to 
the altar. — Jaising, leave this place, if 
you cannot remain still, — 



SACRIFICE 117 

Nakshatra 
But he is my brother, and I love him. 

Raghupati 
Your sacrifice will be all the more pre- 
cious. 

Nakshatra 

But, father, I am content to remain as 
I am. I do not want the kingdom. 

Raghupati 
There is no escape for you, because the 
Goddess commands it. She is thirsting 
for blood from the King's house. If your 
brother is to hve, then you must die. 

Nakshatra 
Have pity on me, father. 

Raghupati 
You shall never be free in life, or in 
death, until her bidding is done. 

Nakshatra 
Advise me, then, how to do it. 



118 SACRIFICE 

Raghupati 
Wait in silence. I will tell you what to 
do, when the time comes. And now, go. 

[Nakshatra goes. 

Jaising 
What is it that I heard .^ Merciful 
Mother, is it your bidding? To ask brother 
to kill brother.? Master, how could you 
say that it was Mother's own wish? 

Raghupati 
There was no other means but this to 
serve my Goddess. 

Jaising 
Means? Why means? Mother, have 
you not your own sw^ord to wield with 
your own hand? Must your wish burrow 
underground, like a thief, to steal in secret? 
Oh, the sin! 

Raghupati 
What do you know about sin? 

Jaising 
What I have learnt from you. 



SACRIFICE 119 

Raghupati 
Then come and learn your lesson once 
again from me. Sin has no meaning in 
reality. To kill is but to kill, it is neither 
sin nor anything else. Do you not know 
that the dust of this earth is made of 
countless killings? Old Time is ever writ- 
ing the chronicle of the transient life of 
creatures in letters of blood. Killing is 
in the wilderness, in the habitations of 
man, in birds' nests, in insects' holes, in 
the sea, in the sky; there is killing for life, 
for sport, for nothing whatever. The world 
is ceaselessly killing; and the great God- 
dess Kali, the spirit of ever changing time, 
is standing with her thirsty tongue hang- 
ing down from her mouth, with her cup 
in hand, into which is running the red 
life-blood of the world, like juice from the 
crushed cluster of grapes. 

Jaising 

Stop, master. Is then love a falsehood 

and mercy a mockery, and the one thing 

true, from the beginning of time, the lust 

for destruction.^ Would it not have de- 



no SACRIFICE 

stroyed itself long ago? You are playing 
with my heart, my master. Look there, 
she is gazing at me. My blood-thirsty 
Mother, wilt thou accept my blood? Is it 
so delicious to thee? Master, did you call 
me? The Mother, who is thirsting for 
our love, you accuse of blood-thirstiness! 

Raghupati 

Then let the sacrifice be stopped in the 
temple. 

Jaising 

Yes, let it be stopped. — No, no, master, 
you know what is right and what is wrong. 
The heart's laws are not the laws of scrip- 
ture. Eyes cannot see with their own 
light, — the light must come from the 
outside. Tell me, father, is it true that 
the Goddess seeks King's blood? 

Raghupati 
Alas, child, have you lost your faith in 
me? 

Jaising 
My world stands upon my faith in you. 
If the Goddess must have King's blood. 



SACRIFICE ni 

let me bring it to her. I will never allow a 
brother to kill his brother. 

Raghupati 
But there can be no evil in carrying out 
God's wishes. 

Jaising 
No, it must be good, and I will earn the 
merit of it. 

Raghupati 

But, my boy, I have reared you from 
your childhood, and you have grown close 
to my heart. I can never bear to lose you, 
by any chance. 

Jaising 

I will not let your love for me be soiled 
with sin. Release Prince Nakshatra from 
his promise. 

Raghupati 

I will think, and decide to-morrow. 

[He goes. 

Jaising 

Deeds are better, however cruel they 

may be, than the hell of thinking and 

doubting. You are true, my master, to 



122 SACRIFICE 

kill is no sin, to kill a brother is no sin, to 
kill a king is no sin. — Where do you go, 
my brothers? To the fair at Nishipur? 
There the women are to dance? Oh, this 
world is pleasant! And the dancing limbs 
of the girls are beautiful. In what careless 
merriment the crowds flow through the 
roads, making the sky ring with their 
laughter and song. I will follow them. 

Enters Raghupati 

Raghupati 
Jaising. 

Jaising 
I do not know you. I drift with the 
crowd. Why ask me to stop? Go your 
own way. 

Raghupati 
Jaising. 

Jaising 

The road is straight before me. With 

an alms bowl in hand and the beggar girl 

as my sweetheart I shall walk on. Who 

says that the world's ways are devious? 



SACRIFICE US 

Anyhow we reach the end, — the end where 
all laws and rules are no more, where the 
errors and hurts of life are forgotten. 
What is the use of all these scriptures, and 
the teacher and his instructions? — My 
master, my father, what wild words are 
these of mine? I was living in a dream. 
There stands the temple, cruel and im- 
movable as truth. What was your order, 
my teacher? I have not forgotten it. 
{Bringing out the knife.) I am sharpening 
your words in my mind, till they become 
one with this knife in keenness. Have 
you any other order to give me? 

Raghupati 
My boy, my darling, how can I tell you 
how deep is my love for you? 

Jaising 
No, master, do not tell me of love. Let 
me think only of duty. Love, like the 
green grass and the trees and life's music, 
is only for the surface of the world. It 
comes and vanishes like a dream. But 
underneath is duty, like the rude layers 



124 SACRIFICE 

of stone, like a huge load that nothing 
can move. 

[They go out. 

Enter King Govinda and Chandpal 

Chandpal 
Sire, I warn you to be careful. 

Govinda 
Why? What do you mean? 

Chandpal 
I have overheard a conspiracy to take 
away your life. 

Govinda 
Who wants my life? 

Chandpal 
I am afraid to tell you, lest the news 
become to you more deadly than the knife 
itself. It was Prince Nakshatra, who — 

Govinda 
Nakshatra? 



SACRIFICE U5 

Chandpal 
He has promised to Raghupati to bring 
your blood to the Goddess. 

Govinda 
To the Goddess? Then I cannot blame 
him. For a man loses his humanity when 
it concerns his gods. You go to your work 
and leave me alone. 

[Chandpal goes out, 
(Addressing the image.) Accept these 
flowers, Goddess, and let your creatures 
live in peace. Mother, those who are 
weak in this world are so helpless, and 
those who are strong are so cruel. Greed is 
pitiless, ignorance blind, and pride takes 
no heed when it crushes the small under 
its foot. Mother, do not raise your sword 
and lick your lips for blood; do not 
set brother against brother, and woman 
against man. If it is your desire to strike 
me by the hand of one I love, then let it 
be fulfilled. For the sin has to ripen to its 
ugliest limits, before it can burst and die 
a hideous death. 

[Jaising rushes in. 



126 SACRIFICE 

Jaising 
Tell me, Goddess, dost thou truly want 
King's blood? Ask it in thine own voice, 
and thou shalt have it. 

A voice 
I want King's blood. 

Jaising 
King, say your last prayer, for your 
time has come. 

Govinda 
What makes you say it, Jaising .^^ 

Jaising 
Did you not hear what the Goddess 
said? 

Govinda 
It was not the Goddess. I heard the 
familiar voice of Raghupati. 

Jaising 
Drive me not from doubt to doubt. It 



SACRIFICE ni 

is all the same, whether the voice comes 
from the Goddess, or from my master. — 
[He unsheathes his knife, and then throws it 

away. 
Listen to the cry of thy children. Mother. 
Let there be only flowers for thy offer- 
ings, — no more blood. They are red even 
as blood, — these bunches of hybiscus. 
They have come out of the heart-burst of 
the earth, pained at the slaughter of her 
children. Accept this. Thou must accept 
this. I defy thy anger. Blood thou shalt 
never have. Redden thine eyes. Raise 
thy sword. Bring thy furies of destruc- 
tion. I do not fear thee. King, leave this 
temple to its Goddess, and go to your men. 

[GoviNDA goes. 
Alas, alas, in a moment I gave up all that 
I had, my master, my Goddess. 

[Raghupati comes. 

Raghupati 
I have heard all. Traitor, you have 
betrayed your master. 

Jaising 
Punish me, father. 



128 SACRIFICE 

Raghupati 
Wbat punishment will you have? 

Jaising 
Punish me with my life. 

Raghupati 
No, that is nothing. Take your oath 
touching the feet of the Goddess. 

Jaising 
I touch her feet. 

Raghupati 
Say, I will bring kingly blood to the 
altar of the Goddess, before it is midnight. 

Jaising 
I will bring kingly blood to the altar 
of the Goddess, before it is midnight. 

[They go out. 

Enters Gunavati 

Gunavati 
1 failed. I had hoped that, if I remained 
hard and cold for some days, he would sur- 



SACRIFICE U9 

render. Such faith I had in my power, 
vain woman that I am. I showed my 
sullen anger, and remained away from 
him; but it was fruitless. Woman's anger 
is like a diamond's glitter; it only shines, 
but cannot burn. I would it were like 
thunder, bursting upon the King's house, 
startling him up from his sleep, and dash- 
ing his pride to the ground. 

Enters the boy Druva 

Gunavati 
Where are you going? 

Druva 
I am called by the King. [Goes out, 

Gunavati 
There goes the darling of the King's 
heart. He has robbed my unborn children 
of their father's love, usurped their right 
to the first place in the King's breast. O 
Mother Kali, your creation is infinite and 
full of wonders, only send a child to my 



130 SACRIFICE 

arms in merest wliim, a tiny little warm 
living flesh to fill my lap, and I shall 
offer you whatever you wish. (Enters 
Nakshatra.) Prince Nakshatra, why 
are you so excited? 

Nakshatra 
Tell me what you want of me. 

Gunavati 
The^thief that steals the crown awaiting 
you, — remove him. Do you understand? 

Nakshatra 
Yes, except who the thief is. 

Gunavati 
That boy, Druva. Do you not see how 
he is growing in the King's lap, till one day 
he reaches the crown? 

Nakshatra 
Yes, I have often thought of it. I have 
seen my brother putting his crown on 
the boy's head in play. 



SACRIFICE 131 

Gunavati 
Playing with the crown is a dangerous 
game. If you do not remove the player, 
he will make a game of you. 

Nakshatra 
Yes, I like it not. 

Gunavati 
Offer him to Kali. Have you not heard 
that Mother is thirsting for blood. ^^ 

Nakshatra 
But, sister, this is not my business. 

Gunavati 
Fool, can you feel yourself safe, so long 
as Mother is not appeased.^ Blood she 
must have; save your own, if you can. 

Nakshatra 
But she wants King's blood. 

Gunavati 
Who told you that.? 



132 SACRIFICE 

Nahshatra 
I know it from one to whom the God- 
dess herself sends her dreams. 

Gunavati 
Then that boy must die for the King. 
His blood is more precious to your brother 
than his own, and the King can only be 
saved by paying the price, which is more 
than his life. 

Nahshatra 
I understand. 

Gunavati 
Then lose no time. Run after him. He 
is not gone far. But remember. Offer 
him in my name. 

Nahshatra 
Yes, I will. 

Gunavati 
The Queen's offerings have been turned 
back from Mother's gate. Pray to her 
that she may forgive me. 

[They go out. 



SACRIFICE 133 

Enters Jaising 

Jaising 

Goddess, is there any little thing, that 
yet remains, out of the wreck of thee? If 
there be but a faintest spark of thy light 
in the remotest of the stars of evening, 
answer my cry, though thy voice be the 
feeblest. Say to me, " Child, here I am." — 
No, she is nowhere. She is naught. But 
take pity upon Jaising, O Illusion! Art 
thou so irredeemably false, that not even 
my love can send the slightest tremor of 
life through thy nothingness? O fool, for 
whom have you upturned your cup of 
life, emptying it to the last drop? for this 
unanswering void, — truthless, merciless, 
and motherless? 

Enters Aparna 

Aparna, they drive you away from the 
temple; yet you come back over and over 
again. For you are true, and truth cannot 
be banished. We enshrine falsehood in 
our temple, with all devotion; yet she is 
never there. Leave me not, Aparna. Sit 
here by my side. Why are you so sad. 



134 SACRIFICE 

my darling? Do you miss some god, who 
is god no longer? But is there any need 
of God in this little world of ours? Let us 
be fearlessly godless and come closer to 
each other. They want our blood. And 
for this, they have come down to the 
dust of our earth, leaving their magnif- 
icence of heaven. For in their heaven 
there are no men, no creatures, who can 
suffer. No, my girl, there is no Goddess. 

Aparna 
Then leave this temple, and come away 
with me. 

Jaising 
Leave this temple? Yes, I will leave. 
Alas, Aparna, I must leave. Yet I can- 
not leave it, before I have paid my last 
dues to the — . But let that be. Come 
closer to me, my love. Whisper some- 
thing to my ears, which will overflow this 
life with sweetness, flooding death itself. 

Aparna 
Words do not flow when the heart is 
full. 



SACRIFICE 135 

Jaising 
Then lean your head on my breast. Let 
the silence of two eternities, life and death, 
touch each other.— But no more of this. 
I must go. 

Aparna 
Jaising, do not be cruel. Can you not 
feel what I have suffered? 

Jaising 
Am I cruel? Is this your last word to 
me? Cruel, as that block of stone, whom 
I called Goddess? Aparna, my beloved, 
if you were the Goddess, you would know 
what fire is this that burns my heart. 
But you are my Goddess. Do you know 
how I know it? 

Aparna 

Tell me. 

Jaising 

You bring to me your sacrifice every 
moment, as a mother does to her child. 
God must be all sacrifice, pouring out his 
life in all creation. 



136 SACRIFICE 

Aparna 
Jaising, come, let us leave this temple 
and go away together. 

Jaising 
Save me, Aparna, have mercy upon me 
and leave me. I have only one object 
in my life. Do not usurp its place. 

[Rushes out 

Aparna 
Again and again I have suffered. But 
my strength is gone. My heart breaks. 

[She goes out 

Enter Raghupati and Prince Nakshatra 

Raghupati 
Prince, where have you kept the boy.'^ 

Nakshatra 
He is in the room where the vessels for 
worship are kept. He has cried himself to 
sleep. I think I shall never be able to 
bear it, when he w^akes up again. 



SACRIFICE 137 

Raghupati 
Jaising was of the same age when he 
came to me. And I remember how he 
cried till he slept at the feet of the God- 
dess,— the temple lamp dimly shining on 
his tear-stained child-face. It was a 
stormy evening like this. 

NaJcshatra 
Father, delay not. I wish to finish it 
all, while he is sleeping. His cry pierces 
my heart like a knife. 

Raghupati 
I will drug him to sleep, if he wakes up. 

NaJcshatra 
The King will soon find it out, if you 
are not quick. For, in the evening, he 
leaves the care of his kingdom to come 
to this boy. 

Raghupati 
Have more faith in the Goddess. The 
victim is now in her own hands and it 
shall never escape. 



138 SACRIFICE 

Nakshatra 
But Chandpal is so watchful. 

Raghupati 
Not more so than our Mother. 

Nakshatra 
I thought I saw a shadow pass by. 

Raghupati 
The shadow of your own fear. 

Nakshatra 
Do we not hear the sound of a cry? 

Raghupati 
The sound of your own heart. Shake 
off your despondency, Prince. Let us 
drink this wine duly consecrated. So 
long as the purpose remains in the mind, 
it looms large and fearful. In action it 
becomes small. The vapour is dark and 
diffused. It dissolves into water drops 
that are small and sparkling. Prince, it 
is nothing. It takes only a moment, — 
not more than it does to snuff a candle. 



SACRIFICE 139 

Nakshatra 
I think we should not be too rash. 
Leave this work till to-morrow night. 

Raghupati 
To-night is as good as to-morrow night, 
perhaps better. 

Nakshatra 

Listen to the sound of footsteps. 

Raghupati 
I do not hear it. 

Nakshatra 
See there, — the light. 

Raghupati 
The King comes. I fear we have delayed 
too long. 

King comes with attendants 

Govinda 
Make them prisoners. (To Raghupati.) 
Have you anything to say.^^ 



140 SACRIFICE 

Raghupati 
Nothing. 

Govinda 
Do you admit your crime? 

Raghupati 

Crime? Yes, my crime was that, in 
my weakness, I delayed in carrying out 
Mother's service. The punishment comes 
from the Goddess. You are merely her 
instrument. 

Govinda 

According to my law, my soldiers shall 
escort you to exile, Raghupati, where you 
shall spend eight years of your life. 

Raghupati 
King, I never bent my knees to any 
mortal in my life. I am a Brahmin. 
Your caste is lower than mine. Yet, in 
all humility, I pray to you, give 'me only 
one day's time. 

Govinda 
I grant it. 

Raghupati 
[Mockingly.] You are the King of all 



SACRIFICE 141 

kings. Your majesty and mercy are alike 

immeasurable. Whereas I am a mere 

worm, hiding in the dust. [He goes out 

Govinda 

Nakshatra, admit your guilt. 

Nakshatra 
I am guilty. Sire, and I dare not ask 
for your pardon. 

Govinda 
Prince, I know you are tender of heart. 
Tell me, who beguiled you with evil 
counsel? 

Nakshatra 

I will not take other names, King. My 
guilt is my own. You have pardoned your 
foolish brother more than once, and once 
more he begs to be pardoned. 
Govinda 
Nakshatra, leave my feet. The judge 
is still more bound by his laws than his 
prisoner. 

Attendants 

Sire, remember that he is your brother, 
and pardon him. 



142 SACRIFICE 

Govinda 
Let me remember that I am a king. 
Nakshatra shall remain in exile for eight 
years, in the house we have built, by the 
sacred river, outside the limits of Tripura. 
[Talcing Nakshatra's hands.] The pun- 
ishment is not yours only, brother, but 
also mine, — the more so because I cannot 
share it bodily. 

[They all go out. 
Enter Raghupati and Jaising 

Raghupati 
My pride wallows in the mire. I have 
shamed my Brahminhood. I am no longer 
your master, my child. Yesterday I had 
the authority to command you. To-day 
I can only beg your favour. Life's days 
are mere tinsel, most trifling of God's 
gifts, and I had to beg for one of those 
days from the King with bent knees. Let 
that one day be not in vain. Let its in- 
famous black brows be red with King's 
blood before it dies. Why do you not 
speak, my boy.^^ Though I forsake my 
place as your master, yet have I not the 



SACRIFICE 143 

right to claim your obedience as your 
father, — I who am more than a father to 
you, because father to an orphan? You 
are still silent, my child? Then let my 
knees bend to you, who were smaller than 
my knees when you first came to my arms. 

Jaising 
Father, do not torture the heart that is 
already broken. If the Goddess thirsts 
for kingly blood, I will bring it to her 
before to-night. I will pay all my debts, 
yes, every farthing. Keep ready for my 
return. I will delay not. 

[Goes out, 
[Storm outside.] 

Ragkupati 
She is awake at last, the Terrible. Her 
curses go shrieking through the town. 
The hungry furies are shaking the crack- 
ing branches of the world tree with all 
their might, for the stars to break and 
drop. My Mother, why didst thou keep 
thine own people in doubt and dishonour 
so long? Leave it not for thy servant to 



144 SACRIFICE 

raise thy sword. Let thy mighty arm 
do its own work! — I hear steps. 

Enters Aparna 

Aparna 
Where is Jaising.^ 

Raghupati 
Away evil omen (Aparna goes out) 
But if Jaising never comes back.'^ No, he 
will not break his promise. Victory to 
thee, Great Kali, the giver of all success ! — 
But if he meet with obstruction .^^ If he 
be caught and lose his life at the guards' 
hands? — Victory to thee, watchful God- 
dess, Mother invincible! Do not allow 
thy repute to be lost, and thine enemies 
to laugh at thee. If thy children must 
lose their pride and faith in their Mother, 
and bow down their heads in shame before 
the rebels, who then shall remain in this 
orphaned world to carry thy banner.^ — 
I hear his steps. But so soon.^ Is he 
coming back foiled in his purpose.^ No, 
that cannot be. Thy miracle needs not 



SACRIFICE 145 

time, O Mistress of all time, terrible with 
thy necklace of human skulls. 

[Rushes in Jaising. 
Jaising, where is the blood? 



Jaising 

It is with me. Let go my hands. Let 
me offer it myself (Eritering the temple.) 
Must thou have kingly blood. Great 
Mother, who nourishest the world at thy 
breast with life.^ — I am of the royal caste, 
a Kshatriya. My ancestors have sat upon 
thrones, and there are rulers of men in 
my mother's line. I have kingly blood 
in my veins. Take it, and quench thy 
thirst for ever. 

[Stabs himself f and falls, 

Raghupati 

Jaising! O cruel, ungrateful! You have 
done the blackest crime. You kill your 
father! Jaising, forgive me, my darling. 
Come back to my heart, my heart's one 
treasure! Let me die in your place. 



146 SACRIFICE 

Enters Aparna 

Aparna 

It will madden me. Where is Jaising? 
Where is he? 

Raghupati 

Come, Aparna, come, my child, call 
him with all your love. Call him back to 
life. Take him to you, away from me, 
only let him live. 

[Aparna enters the temple and swoons. 
{Beating his forehead on the temple floor.) 
Give him, give him, give him. — Give him 
back to me! {Stands up addressing the 
image.) Look how she stands there, the 
silly stone, — deaf, dumb, blind, — the whole 
sorrowing world weeping at her door, — 
the noblest hearts wrecking themselves 
at her stony feet. Give me back my 
Jaising. Oh, it is all in vain. Our bitterest 
cries wander in emptiness, — the emptiness 
that we vainly try to fill with these stony 
images of delusion. Away with them! 
Away with these our impotent dreams, 



SACRIFICE 147 

that harden into stones, burdening our 

world. 

[He throws away the image, and comes out 
into ihe courtyard. 

Enters Gunavati 
Qimavati 
Victory to thee, great Goddess !— But, 
where is the Goddess? 

Raghupati 
Goddess there is none. 

Gunavati 
Bring her back, father. I have brought 
her my offerings. I have come at last, 
to appease her anger with my own heart s 
blood. Let her know that the Queen is 
true to her promise. Have pity on nie, 
and bring back the Goddess only for this 
night. Tell me,— where is she? 
Raghupati 
She is nowhere,— neither above, nor 

below. 

Gunavati 

Master, was not the Goddess here in 

the temple? 



148 SACRIFICE 

Raghupati 
Goddess? — If there were any true God- 
dess anywhere in the world, could she bear 
this thing to usurp her name? 

Gunavati 
Do not torture me. Tell me truly. Is 
there no Goddess? 

Raghupati 
No, there is none. 

Gunavati 
Then who was here? 

Raghupati 
Nothing, nothing. 

[Aparna comes out from the temple. 

Aparna 
Father. 

Raghupati 
My sweet child! "Father," — did you 
say? Do you rebuke me with that name? 
My son, whom I have killed, has left that 
one dear call behind him in your sweet 
voice. 



SACRIFICE 149 

Aparna 
Father, leave this temple. Let us go 
away from here. 

Enters the King 

Govinda 
Where is the Goddess? 

Raghupati 
The Goddess is nowhere. 

Govinda 
But what blood-stream is this? 

Raghupati 
King, Jaising, who loved you so dearly, 
has killed himself. 

Govinda 
Killed himself ? Why? 

Raghupati 
To kill the falsehood, that sucks the 
life-blood of man. 



150 SACRIFICE 

Govinda 
Jaising is great. He has conquered 
death. My flowers are for him. 

Gunavati 
My King. 

Govinda 
Yes, my love. 

Gunavati 
The Goddess is no more. 

Govinda ■ 

She has burst her cruel prison of stone, 
and come back to woman's heart. 

Aparna 
Father, come away. 

Raghupati 
Come, child. Come, Mother. I have 
found thee. Thou art the last gift of 
Jaising. 



THE KING AND THE QUEEN 



TO 
MRS. ARTHUR SEYMOUR 



THE KING AND THE QUEEN 

TJie Palace Garden. King Vikram and 
Queen Sumitra 

Vikram 
Why have you delayed in coming to 
me for so long, my love? 

Sumitra 
Do you not know, my King, that I am 
utterly yours, wherever I am? It was your 
Louse, and its service, that kept me away 
from your presence, but not from you. 

Vikram 
Leave the house, and its service, alone. 
My heart cannot spare you for my world, 
I am jealous of its claims. 

Sumitra 
No, King, I have my place in your heart, 
as your beloved, and in your world, as 
your Queen. 

153 



154 SACRIFICE 

Vikram 
Alas, my darling, where have vanished 
those days of unalloyed joy, when we first 
met in love; when our world awoke not, — 
only the flush of the early dawn of our 
union broke through our hearts in over- 
flowing silence? You had sweet shy- 
ness in your eyelids, like a dew drop on the 
tip of a flower-petal, and the smile flick- 
ered on your lips like a timid evening 
lamp in the breeze. I remember the eager 
embrace of your love, when the morning 
broke and we had to part, and your un- 
willing steps, heavy with languor, that 
took you away from me. Where were 
the house, and its service, and the cares 
of your world .^ 

Sumitra 
But then we were scarcely more than a 
boy and a girl; and to-day we are the 
King and the Queen. 

Vikram 
The King and the Queen? Mere names. 
We are more than that; we are lovers. 



THE KING AND QUEEN 155 

Sumitra 
You are my King, my husband, and I 
am content to follow your steps. Do not 
shame me by putting me before your 
kingship. 

Vikram 

Do you not want my love? 

Sumitra 
Love me truly by not making your love 
extravagant; for truth can afford to be 

simple. 

Vilcram 

I do not understand woman's heart. 

Sumitra 
King, if you thriftlessly squander your 
all upon me, then I shall be deprived. 

Vikram 
No more vain words. Queen. The birds' 
nests are silent with love. Let lips keep 
guard upon lips, and allow not words to 
clamour. 



156 SACRIFICE 

Enters Attendant 

Attendant 

The minister begs audience, to discuss 
a grave matter of state. 

Vikram 

No, not now. 

[Attendant goes. 
Sumitra 

Sire, ask him to come. 

Vikram 

The state and its matter can wait. But 
sweet leisure comes rarely. It is frail, like 
a flower. Respite from duty is a part of 
duty. 

Sumitra 

Sire, I beg of you, attend to your work. 

Vikram 

Again, cruel woman. Do you imagine 
that I always follow you to win your un- 
willing favour, drop by drop.^ I leave you 
and go. [He goes. 



THE KING AND QUEEN 157 

Enter Devadatta, the King's Brahmin 
friend. 

Sumitra 
Tell me, sir, what is that noise outside 
the gate? 

Devadatta 

That noise? Command me, and with 
the help of soldiers I shall drive away 
that noise, ragged and hungry. 

Sumitra 
Do not mock me. Tell me what has 
happened. 

Devadatta 

Nothing. It is merely hunger, — the 
vulgar hunger of poverty. The famished 
horde of barbarians is rudely clamouring, 
making the drowsy cuckoos in your royal 
garden start up in fear. 

Sumitra 
Tell me, father, who are hungry? 

Devadatta 
It is their ill-fate. The King's poor 
subjects have been practising long to 



158 SACRIFICE 

live upon half a meal a day, but they 
have not yet become experts in complete 
starvation. It is amazing. 

Sumitra 
But, father, the land is smiling with 
ripe corn. Why should the King's subjects 
die of hunger.? 

Devadatta 
The corn is his, whose is the land, — it 
is not for the poor. They, like intruding 
dogs at the King's feast, crouch in the 
corner for their crumbs, or kicks. 

Sumitra 
Does it mean, that there is no King in 
this lamd? 

Devadatta 
Not one, but hundreds. 

Sumitra 
Are not the King's officers watchful.'* 

Devadatta 
Who can blame your officers? They 
came penniless from the alien land. Is it 



THE KING AND QUEEN 159 

to bless the King's subjects with their 
empty hands? 

Sumitra 
From the ahen land? Are they my 
relatives? 

Devadatta 
Yes, Queen. 

Sumitra 
What about Jaisen? 

Devadatta 
He rules the province of Singarh with 
such scrupulous care, that all the rubbish, 
in the shape of food and raiment, has been 
cleared away; only the skin and bones 
remain. 

Sumitra 
And Shila? 

Devadatta 
He keeps his eyes upon the trade; he 
relieves all merchants of their excessive 
profits, taking the burden upon his own 
broad shoulders. 



160 SACRIFICE 

Sumitra 
And Ajit? 

Devadatta 

He lives in Vijaykote. He smiles 
sweetly, strokes the land on its back with 
his caressing hand, and whatever comes 
to his touch gathers with care. 

Sumitra 

What shame is this. I must remove 
this refuse from my father's land and 
save my people. Leave me now, the 
King comes. (Enters the King.) I am 
the mother of my people. I cannot bear 
their cry. Save them, King. 

Vikram 
What do you want me to do? 

Sumitra 

Turn those out from your kingdom, 
who are oppressing the land. 

Vikram 
Do you know who they are? 



THE KING AND QUEEN 161 

Sumitra 
Yes, I know. 

Vikram 
They are your own cousins. 

Sumitra 
They are not a whit more my own than 
my people. They are robbers, who, under 
the cover of your throne, seek for their 
victims. 

Vikram 

They are Jaisen, Shila, A.jit. 

Sumitra 
My country must be rid of them.' 

Vikram 
They will not move without fight. 

Sumitra 
Then fight them, Sire. 

Vikram 
Fight? But let me conquer you first, 
and then I shall have time to conquer my 
enemies. 



162 SACRIFICE 

Sumitra 
Allow me. King, as your Queen. I will 
save your subjects myself. [Goes. 

Vikram 
This is how you make my heart dis- 
traught. You sit alone upon your peak 
of greatness, where I do not reach you. 
You go to attend your own God, and I 
go seeking you in vain. 

Enters Devadatta 

Devadatta 
Where is the Queen, Sire? Why are 
you alone .f^ 

Vikram 
Brahmin, this is all your conspiracy. 
You come here to talk of the state news 
to the Queen .^ 

Devadatta 

The state is shouting its own news loud 

enough to reach the Queen's ears. It has 

come to that pass, when it takes no heed 

lest your rest be broken. Do not be 



THE KING AND QUEEN 163 

afraid of me, King. I have come to ask 
my Brahmin's dues from the Queen. For 
my wife is out of humour, her larder is 
empty, and in the house there are a number 
of empty stomachs. [He goes. 

Vikram 

I wish all happiness to my people. Why 
should there be suffering, and injustice.'^ 
Why should the strong cast his vulture's 
eyes upon the poor man's comforts, piti- 
fully small .^ (Enters Minister.) Banish 
all the foreign robbers from my kingdom, 
this moment. I must not hear the cry of 
the oppressed for a day longer. 

Minister 

But, King, the evil that has been slowly 
growing for long, you cannot uproot in a 
day. 

Vikram 

Strike at its root with vigour, and fell 
it with your axe in a day, — the tree that 
has taken a hundred years to grow. 



164 SACRIFICE 

Minister 
But we want arms and soldiers. 

Vikram 
Where is my general? 

Minister 
He himself is a foreigner. 

Vihram 
Then invite the hungry people. Open 
my treasure; stop this cry with food; send 
them away with money, — And if they 
want to have my kingdom, let them do 
so in peace, and be happy. [He goes. 

Enter Sumitra and Devadatta 

Minister 
Queen, my humble salutation to you. 

Queen 
We cannot allow misery to go un- 
checked in our land. 

Minister 
What are your commands, Queen .^ 



THE KING AND QUEEN 165 

Queen 

Call immediately, in my name, all our 
chiefs who are foreigners. 

Minister 

I have done so already. I have taken 
upon myself to invite them into the capi- 
tal, in the King's name, without asking 
for his sanction, for fear of refusal. 

Queen 
When did you send your messengers .^^ 

3Iinister 

It will soon be a month hence. I am 
expecting their answers every moment. 
But I am afraid they will not respond. 

Queen 
Not respond to the King's call? 

Devadatta 

The King has become a piece of wild 
rumour, which they can believe, or not, 
as they like. 



166 SACRIFICE 

Queen 
Keep your soldiers ready, Minister, for 
these people. They shall have to answer 
to me, as my relatives. 

[The Minister goes. 

Devadatta 
Queen, they will not come. 

Queen 
Then the King shall fight them. 

Devadatta 
The King will not fight. 

Queen 
Then I will. 

Devadatta 
You! 

Queen 
I will go to my brother Kumarsen, 
Kashmir's King, and with his help fight 
these rebels, who are a disgrace to Kashmir. 
Father, help me to escape from this king- 
dom, and do your duty, if things come 
to the worst. 



THE KING AND QUEEN 167 

Devadatta 

I salute thee, Mother of the people. 

[He goes. 

Enters Vikeam 

Vihram 
Why do you go away, Queen? My 
hungry desire is revealed to you in its 
naked poverty. Do you therefore go 
away from me in derision? 
Sumitra 
I feel shamed to share alone your heart, 
which is for all men. 

Vikram 
Is it absolutely true, Queen, that you 
stand on your giddy height, and I grovel 
in the dust? No. I know my power. 
There is an unconquerable force in my 
nature, which I have turned into love for 

you. 

Sumitra 

Hate me, King, hate me. Forget me. 
I shall bear it bravely,-but do not wreck 
your manhood against a woman s charms. 



168 SACRIFICE 

Vikram 

So much love, yet such neglect? Your 
very indifference, like a cruel knife, cuts 
into my bosom, laying bare the warm 
bleeding love, — and then, to fling it into 
the dust! 

Sumitra 

1 throw myself at your feet, my beloved. 
Have you not forgiven your Queen, again 
and again, for wrongs done? Then why is 
this wrath, Sire, when I am blameless? 

King 

Rise up, my love. Come to my heart. 
Shut my life from all else for a moment, 
with your encircling arms, rounding it 
into a world completely your own. 

A voice from outside 

Queen. 

Sumitra 

It is Devadatta. — Yes, father, what is 
the message? 



THE KING AND QUEEN 169 

Enters Devadatta 

Devadatta 

They have defied the King's call, — the 
foreign governors of the provinces, — and 
they are preparing for rebellion. 

Sumitra 
Do you hear. King? 

Vikram 

Brahmin, the palace garden is not the 
council-house. 

Devadatta 

Sire, we rarely meet our King in the 
council-house, because it is not the palace 
garden. 

Queen 

The miserable dogs, grown fat upon the 
King's table sweepings, dare dream of 
barking against their master.? King, is it 
time for debating in the council chamber.'^ 
Is not the course clear before you.^^ Go 
with your soldiers and crush these mis- 
creants. 



170 SACRIFICE 

Vikram 
But our general himself is a foreigner. 

Queen 
Go yourself. 

Vikram 

Am I your misfortune, Queen, — a bad 
dream, a thorn in your flesh .^ No, I will 
never move a step from here. I will offer 
them terms of peace. Who is it that has 
caused this mischief.^ The Brahmin and 
the woman conspired to wake up the sleep- 
ing snake from its hole. Those who are 
too feeble to protect themselves are the 
most thoughtless in causing disasters to 
others. 

Queen 

the unfortunate land, and the un- 
fortunate woman who is the Queen of 
this land. 

Vikram 

Where are you going .^ 

Queen 

1 am going to leave you. 



THE KING AND QUEEN 171 

Vikram 
Leave me? 

Queen 

Yes. I am going to fight the rebels. 

Vikram 
Woman, you mock me. 

Queen 
I take my farewell. 

King 
You dare not leave me. 

Queen 

I dare not stay by your side, when I 
weaken you. 

King 

Go, proud woman. I will never ask 
you to turn back, — but claim no help 
from me. 

[Queen goes, 
Devadatta 

King, you allow her to go alone.? 



172 SACRIFICE 

King 

She is not going. I do not believe her 
words. 

Devadatta 
I think she is in earnest. 

King 

It is her woman's wiles. She threatens 
me, while she wants to spur me into action; 
and I despise her methods. She must not 
think that she can play with my love. 
She shall regret it. O my friend, must I 
learn my lesson at last, that love is not 
for the King, — and learn it from that 
woman, whom I love like my doom? De- 
vadatta, you have grown with me from 
infancy, — can you not forget, for a mo- 
ment, that I am a king, and feel that I 
have a man's heart that knows pain? 

Devadatta 

My heart is yours, my friend, which is 
not only ready to receive your love, but* 
your anger. 



THE KING AND QUEEN 173 

King 

But why do you invite the snake into 
my nest? 

Devadatta 

Your house was on fire, — I merely 
brought the news, and wakened you up. 
Am I to blame for that? 

King 
What is the use of waking? When all 
are mere dreams, let me choose my own 
little dream, if I can, and then die. Fifty 
years hence, who will remember the joys 
and sorrows of this moment? Go, Deva- 
datta, leave me to my kingly loneliness 
of pain. 

Enters a Courtier who is a foreigner 

Courtier 
We ask justice from your hands, King, — 
we, who came to this land with the Queen. 

King 
Justice for what? 



174 SACRIFICE 

Courtier 

It has come to our ears, that false accusa- 
tions against us are brought before you, 
for no other cause than that we are for- 
eigners. 

King 

Who knows, if they are not true? But 
so long as I trust you, can you not remain 
silent? Have I ever insulted you with 
the least suspicion — the suspicions that 
are bred like maggots in the rotten hearts 
of cowards? Treason I do not fear. I 
can crush it under my feet. But I fear to 
nourish littleness in my own mind. — You 
can leave me now. 

[The courtier goes. 

Enter Minister and Devadatta 

Minister 

Sire, the Queen has left the palace, rid- 
ing on her horse. 

King 
What do you say? Left my palace? 



THE KING AND QUEEN 175 

Minister 
Yes, King. 

King 
Why did you not stop her? 

Minister 
She left in secret. 

King 
Who brought you the news? 

Minister 
The priest. He saw her riding before 
the palace temple. 

King 
Send for him. 

Minister 

But Sire, she cannot be far. She has 
only just left. You can yet bring her back. 

King 
Bringing her back is not important. 
The great fact is, that she left me.— Left 
me! And all the King's soldiers arxd 



176 SACRIFICE 

forts, and prisons and iron chains, could 
not keep fast this little heart of a woman. 

Minister 

Alas, King. Calumny, like a flood- 
burst, when the dyke is broken, will rush 
in from all sides. 

King 

Calumny! Let the people's tongues 
rot with their own poison. 

Devadatta 

In the days of eclipse, men dare look 
at the midday sun through their broken 
pieces of glass, blackened with soot. Great 
Queen, your name will be soiled, tossed 
from mouth to mouth, but your light will 
ever shine far above all soiling. 

King 

Bring the priest to me. (Minister 
goes.) I can yet go to seek her, and bring 
her back. But is this my eternal task.? 
That she should always avoid me, and I 
should ever run after the fugitive heart.? 



THE KING AND QUEEN 177 

Take your flight, woman, day and night, 
homeless, loveless, without rest and peace. 
{Enters Priest.) Go, go, I have heard 
enough, I do not want to know more. 
(The priest is about to go,) Come back.— 
Tell me, did she come down to the temple 
to pray, with tears in her eyes? 

Priest 
No, Sire. Only, for a moment, she 
checked her horse and turned her face to 
the temple, bowing her head low,— then 
rode away fast as lightning. I cannot 
say, if she had tears in her eyes. The 
light from the temple was dim. 

King 
Tears in her eyes? You could not even 
imagine such enormity? Enough. You 
may go. {The Priest goes.) My God, 
you know that all the wrong that I have 
done to her, was that I loved her. I was 
wiUing to lose my heaven and my kingdom 
for her love. But they have not betrayed 
me, only she has. 



178 SACRIFICE 

Enters Minister 

Minister 

Sire, I have sent messengers on horse- 
back in pursuit of her. 

King 

Call them back. The dream has fled 
away. Where can your messengers find 
it.^ Get ready my army. I will go to war 
myself, and crush the rebellion. 

Minister 
As you command. [Goes away, 

Vikram 

Devadatta, why do you sit silent and 
sad.f^ The thief has fled, leaving the booty 
behind, and now I pick up my freedom. 
This is a moment of rejoicing to m.e. 
False, false friend, false are my words. 
Cruel pain pierces my heart. 

Devadatta 

You shall have no time for pain, or for 
love, now, — ^your life will become one 



THE KING AND QUEEN 179 

stream of purpose, and carry your kingly 
heart to its great conquest. 

Vikram 
But I am not yet completely freed in 
my heart. I still believe she will soon 
come back to me, when she finds that the 
world is not her lover, and that man's 
heart is the only world for a woman. She 
will know what she has spurned, when 
she misses it; and my time will come when, 
her pride gone, she comes back, and 
jealously begins to woo me. 

Enters Attendant 

Attendant 

A letter from the Queen. 

[Gives the letter, and goes. 

King 
She relents already. {Reads the letter.) 
Only this. Just two lines, to say that 
she is going to her brother in Kashmir, to 
ask him to help her to quell the rebellion 
in my kingdom. This is insult! Help 
from Kashmir! 



180 SACRIFICE 

Devadatta 
Lose no time to forestall her, — and let 
that be your revenge. 

King 
My revenge? You shall know it. 



THE KING AND QUEEN 181 



ACT n 

Tent in Kashmir 
ViKRAM and the General 

General 

Pardon me, King, if I dare offer you 
advice in the interest of your kingdom. 

Vihram 
Speak to me. 

General 

The rebelHon in our land has been 
quelled. The rebels themselves are jBght- 
ing on your side. Why waste our strength 
and time in Kashmir, when your presence 
in your own capital is so urgently needed? 

Vihram 
The fight here is not over yet. 



182 SACRIFICE 

General 
But Kumarsen, tlie Queen's brother, is 
already punished for his sister's temerity. 
His army is routed, he is hiding for his 
Hfe. His uncle, Chandrasen, is only too 
eager to be seated upon the vacant throne. 
Make him the king, and leave this unfor- 
tunate country to peace. 

Vikram 
It is not for punishment, that I stay 
here; it is for fight. The fight has become 
like a picture to a painter. I must add 
bold lines, blend strong colours, and per- 
fect it every day. My mind grows more 
and more immersed in it, as it blossoms 
into forms; and I leave it with a sigh, 
when it is finished. The destruction is 
merely its materials, out of which it takes 
its shape. It is a creation. It is beautiful, 
as red bunches of palash, that break out 
like a drunken fury, yet every one of its 
flowers delicately perfect. 

General 
But, Sire, this cannot go on for ever. 
You have other duties. The minister has 



THE KING AND QUEEN 183 

been sending me message after message, 
entreating me to help you to see how this 
war is ruining your country. 



Vikram 

I cannot see anything else in the world 
but what is growing under my masterly 
hands. Oh, the music of swords. Oh, the 
great battles, that clasp your breast tight 
like hard embraces of love. Go, General, 
you have other works to do, — your ad- 
vices flash out best on the points of your 
swords. (General goes.) This is de- 
liverance. The bondage has fled of it- 
self, leaving the prisoner free. Revenge 
is stronger than the thin wine of love. 
Revenge is freedom, — freedom from the 
coils of cloying sweetness. 

Enters General 

General 

I can espy a carriage coming towards 
our tent, perhaps bringing an envoy of 
peace. It has no escort of armed soldiers. 



184 SACRIFICE 

King 
Peace must follow the war. The time 
for it has not yet come. 

General 
Let us hear the messenger first, and 
then, — 

King 
And then continue the war. 

Enters a Soldier 

Soldier 
The Queen has come asking for your 
audience. 

Vihram 
What do you say.? 

Soldier 
The Queen has come. 

Vikrarrb 
Which Queen.'^ 

Soldier 
Our Queen, Sumitra. 



THE KING AND QUEEN 185 

Vikram 

Go, General, see who has come. 

[The General and the Soldier go. 



King 

This is the third time that she has come, 
vainly attempting to coax me away, since 
I have carried war into Kashmir. But 
these are no dreams — these battles. To 
wake up suddenly, and then find again 
the same palace gardens, the flowers, the 
Queen, the long days made of sighs and 
small favours. No, a thousand times, no. 
She has come to make me captive, to take 
me as her trophy from the war-field into 
her palace hall. She may as well try to 
capture the thunderstorms. 

Enters General 

General 

Yes, Sire, it is our own Queen, who 
wants to see you. It breaks my heart 
when I cannot allow her to come freely 
into your presence. 



186 SACRIFICE 

King 
This is neitlier the time, nor the place, 
to see a woman. 

General 
But, Sire. 

King 
No, no. Tell my guards to keep a 
strict watch at my tent door, — not for 
enemies, but for women. 

[General goes. 

Enters Shankar 

Shankar 
I am Shankar, — King Kumarsen's serv- 
ant. You have kept me captive in your 
tent. 

King 
Yes, I know you. 

Shankar 
Your Queen waits outside your tent. 

King 
She will have to wait for me farther away. 



THE KING AND QUEEN 187 

Shankar 

It makes me blush to say, that she has 
come humbly to ask your pardon; or, if 
that is impossible, to accept her punish- 
ment from your hand. For she owns 
that she alone was to blame, — and she 
asks you, in the name of all that is sacred, 
to spare her brother's country and her 
brother. 

King 

But you must know, old man, it is war, 
— and this war is with her brother, and 
not herself. I have no time to discuss the 
rights and wrongs of the question with a 
woman. But, being a man, you ought to 
know that when once a war is started, 
rightly or w '>ngly, it is our man's pride 
that must ca ±y it on to the end. 

Shankar 

But do you know. Sire, you are carry- 
ing on this war with a woman, and she is 
your Queen. Our Ejng is merely espous- 
ing her cause, being her brother. I ask 
you, is it king-like, or man-like, to mag- 



188 SACRIFICE 

nify a domestic quarrel into a war, carrying 
it from country to country? 

King 

I warn you, old man, your tongue is 
becoming dangerous. You may tell the 
Queen, in my name, that when her brother, 
Kumarsen, owns his defeat and surrenders 
himself into our hands, the question of 
pardoning will then be discussed. 

Shankar 

That is as impossible as for the morn- 
ing sun to kiss the dust of the western 
horizon. My King will never surrender 
himself alive into your hands, and his 
sister will never suffer it. 

King 

Then the war must continue. But do 
you not think that bravery ceases to be 
bravery at a certain point, and becomes 
mere fool-hardiness? Your King can never 
escape me. I have surrounded him on 
all sides, and he knows it. 



THE KING AND QUEEN 189 

Shankar 
Yes, he knows it and also knows that 
there is a great gap. 

King 
What do you mean? 

Shankar 
I mean death, — the triumphal gate 
through which he will escape you, if I 
know him right. And there waits his re- 
venge. [He goes. 
Enters Attendant 

Sire, Chandrasen, and his wife Revati, 
Kumarsen's uncle and aunt, have come 
to see you. 

King 
Ask them in. 

Enter Chandrasen and Revati 

King 
My obeisance to you both. 

Chandrasen 
May you live long. 



190 SACRIFICE 

Revati 
May you be victorious. 

Chandrasen 
What punishment have you decided for 
him? 

King 
If he surrenders, I shall pardon him. 

Revati 
Only this, and nothing more? If tame 
pardon comes at the end, then why is 
there such preparation? Kings are not 
overgrown children, and war is no mere 
child's play. 

Vikram 
To rob was not my purpose, but to 
restore my honour. The head that bears 
the crown cannot bear insult. 

Chandrasen 
My son, forgive him. For he is neither 
mature in age, nor in wisdom. You may 
deprive him of his right to the throne, or 
banish him, but spare him his life. 



THE KING AND QUEEN 191 

King 
I never wished to take his life. 

Revati 
Then why such an army and arms? 
You kill the soldiers, who have done you 
no harm, and spare him who is guilty? 

Vikram 
I do not understand you. 

Chandrasen 
It is nothing. She is angry with Kumar- 
sen for having brought our country into 
trouble, and for giving you just cause for 
anger, who are so nearly related to us. 

Vikram 
Justice will be meted out to him, when 
he is captured. 

Revati 
I have come to ask you never to suspect 
that we are hiding him. It is the people. 
Burn their crops and their villages, — 
drive them with hunger, and then they 
will bring him out. 



192 SACRIFICE 

Chandrasen 
Gently, wife, gently. Come to the 
palace, son, the reception of Kashmir 
awaits you there. 

King 
You go there now, and I shall follow 
you. {They go out.) Oh, the red flame 
of hell-fire. The greed and hatred in a 
woman's heart. Did I catch a glimpse of 
my own face in her face, I wonder .^^ Are 
there lines like those on my forehead, the 
burnt tracks made by a hidden fire? 
Have my lips grown as thin and curved 
at both ends as hers, like some murderer's 
knife .f^ No, my passion is for war, — it is 
neither for greed, nor for cruelty; its fire 
is like love's fire, that knows no restraint, 
that counts no cost, that burns itself, and 
all that it touches, either into a flame, or 
to ashes. 

Enters Attendant 

Attendant 
The Brahmin, Devadatta, has come, 
awaiting your pleasure. 



THE KING AND QUEEN 193 

King 

Devadatta has come? Bring him in, — 
No, no, stop. Let me think, — I know 
him. He has come to turn me back from 
the battle-field. Brahmin, you under- 
mined the river banks, and now, when 
the water overflows, you piously pray 
that it may irrigate your fields, and then 
tamely go back. Will it not wash away 
your houses, and ruin the country.^ The 
joy of the terrible is blind, — its term of 
life is short, and it must gather its plunder 
in fearful haste, like a mad elephant up- 
rooting the lotus from the pond. Wise 
councils will come, in their turn, when the 
great force is spent, — ^No, I must not see 
the Brahmin. 

Enters Amaru, the chieftain of Trichiir hills 
Amaru 

Sire, I have come at your bidding, and 
I own you as my King. 

King 
You are the chief of this place? 



194 SACRIFICE 

Amaru 
Yes. I am the chief of Trichur. You 
are the Kjng of many kings, and I am your 
servant. I have a daughter, whose name 
is Ila. She is young and comely. Do 
not think me vain, when I say that she 
is worthy to be your spouse. She is wait- 
ing outside. Permit me, King, and I shall 
send her to you as the best greeting of 
this land of flowers. [He goes out. 

Enters Ila with her Attendant 
King 
Ah! She comes, as a surprise of dawn, 
when the moment before it seemed like a 
dark night. Come, maiden, you have 
made the battle-field forget itself. Kashmir 
has shot her best arrow, at last, to pierce 
the heart of the war-god. You make me 
feel that my eyes had been wandering 
among the wilderness of things, to find at 
last their fulfilment. But why do you 
stand so silent, with your eyes on the 
ground .f^ I can almost see a trembling 
of pain in your limbs, whose intensity 
makes it invisible. 



THE KING AND QUEEN 195 

Ila 

{Kneeling.) I have heard that you are 
a great King. Be pleased to grant me my 
prayer. 

King 

Rise up, fair maiden. This earth is not 
worthy to be touched by your feet. Why 
do you kneel in the dust? There is noth- 
ing that I cannot grant you. 

Ila 

My father has given me to you. I beg 
myself back from your hands. You have 
wealth untold, and territories unlimited, — 
go and leave me behind in the dust; there 
is nothing that you can want. 

King 

Is there, indeed, nothing that I can 
want? How shall I show you my heart? 
Where is its wealth? Where are its terri- 
tories? It is empty. Had I no kingdom, 
but only you — 



196 SACRIFICE 

Ila 

Then first take my life, — as you take 
that of the wild deer of the forest, pierc- 
ing her heart with your arrows, — 

King 

But why, child, — why such contempt 
for me? Am I so utterly unworthy of 
you? I have won kingdoms with the 
might of my arms. Can I not hope to 
beg your heart for me? 

Ila 

But my heart is not mine. I have given 
it to one who left me months ago, promis- 
ing to come back and meet me in the shade 
of our ancient forest. Days pass, and I 
wait, and the silence of the forest grows 
wistful. If he find me not, when he comes 
back! If he go away for ever, and the 
forest shadows keep their ancient watch 
for the love-meeting that remains eter- 
nally unfulfilled! King, do not take me 
away, — leave me for him, who has left 
me, to find me again. 



THE KING AND QUEEN 197 

Vikram 
What a fortunate man is he. But I 
warn you, girl, gods are jealous of our 
love. Listen to my secret. There was a 
time when I despised the whole world, 
and only loved. I woke up from my 
dream, and found that the world was 
there, — only my love burst as a bubble. 
What is his name, for whom you wait? 

Ila 
He is Kashmir's King. His name is 
Kumarsen. 

Kumarsen! 



Vikram 



Ila 
Do you know him.^* He is known to all. 
Kashmir has given its heart to him. 

Vikram 
Kumarsen? Kashmir's King? 

Ila 
Yes. He must be your friend. 



198 SACRIFICE 



Vikram 



But do you not know, that the sun of 
his fortune has set? Give up all hope of 
him. He is like a hunted animal, running 
and hiding from one hole to another. The 
poorest beggar in these hills is happier 
than he. 

Ila 

I hardly understand you, King. 

Vikram 

You, women, sit in the seclusion of 
your hearts, and only love. You do not 
know how the roaring torrent of the world 
passes by, and we, men, are carried away 
in its waves in all directions. With your 
sad, big eyes, filled with tears, you sit and 
watch, clinging to flimsy hope. But learn 
to despair, my child. 

Ila 

Tell me the truth. King. Do not de- 
ceive me. I am so very little and so 
trivial. But I am all his own. Where, — 
in what homeless wilds, — is my lover 



THE KING AND QUEEN 199 

roaming? I will go to seek him, — I, who 
never have been out of my house. Show 
me the way, — 

Vikram 

His enemy's soldiers are after him, — 
he is doomed. 

Ila 

But are you not his friend .^^ Will you 
not save him.^^ A king is in danger, and 
will you suffer it as a King .5^ Are you not 
honour-bound to succour him? I know 
that all the world loved him. But where 
are they, in his time of misfortune? Sire, 
you are great in power, but what is your 
power for, if you do not help the great? 
Can you keep yourself aloof? Then show 
me the way, — I will offer my life for him, — 
the one, weak woman. 

Vikram 

Love him, love him with all you have — 
Love him, who is the King of your precious 
heart. I have lost my love's heaven my- 
self, — but let me have the happiness to 



200 SACRIFICE 

make you happy. I will not covet your 
love. — ^The withered branch cannot hope 
to blossom with borrowed flowers. Trust 
me. I am your friend. I will bring him 
to you. 

Ila 
Noble King. I owe you my life and 
my heaven of happiness. 

Vikram 
Go, and be ready with your bridal dress. 
I will change the tune of my music. (Ila 
goes.) This war is growing tiresome. But 
peace is insipid. Homeless fugitive, you 
are more fortunate than I am. Woman's 
love, like heaven's watchful eyes, follows 
you wherever you go in this world, mak- 
ing your defeat a triumph and misfortune 
splendid, like sunset clouds. 

Enters Devadatta 

Devadatta 
Save me from my pursuers. 

King 
Who are they.^ 



THE KING AND QUEEN 201 

Devadatta 
They are your guards, King. They 
kept me under strict watch for this ever- 
lasting half-hour. I talked to them of 
art and letters; they were amused. They 
thought I was playing the fool to please 
them. Then I began to recite to them the 
best lyrics of Kalidas, — and it soothed this 
pair of yokels to sleep. In perfect dis- 
gust, I left their tent to come to you. 

King 
These guards should be punished for 
their want of taste in going off to sleep 
when the prisoner recited Kalidas. 

Devadatta 
We shall think of the punishment later 
on. In the meanwhile, we must leave 
this miserable war and go back home. 
Once I used to think that only they died 
of love's separation, who were the favoured 
of fortune, delicately nurtured. But since 
I left home to come here, I have dis- 
covered that even a poor Brahmin is not 
too small to fall a victim to angered love. 



^02 SACRIFICE 

Vikram 

Love and death are not too careful in 
their choice of victims. They are im- 
partial. Yes, friend, let us go back home. 
Only I have one thing to do, before I leave 
this place. Try to find out, from the chief 
of Trichur, Kumarsen's hiding-place. Tell 
him, when you find him, that I am no 
longer his enemy. And, friend, if some- 
body else is there with him, — if you meet 
her, — 

Devadatta 

Yes, yes, I know. She is ever in our 
thoughts, yet she is beyond our words. 
She, who is noble, her sorrow has to be 
great. 

Vikram 

Friend, you have come to me, like the 
first sudden breeze of spring. Now my 
flowers will follow, with all the memories 
of the past happy years. 

[Devadatta goes. 



THE KING AND QUEEN 203 

Enters Chandrasen 

Vikram 
I have glad tidings for you. I have 
pardoned Kumarsen. 

Chandrasen 
You may have pardoned him, — but now 
that I represent Kashmir, he must await 
his country's judgment at my hands. He 
shall have his punishment from me. 

Vikram 
What punishment.^ 

Chandrasen 
He shall be deprived of his throne. 

Vikram 
Impossible. His throne I will restore 
to him. 

Chandrasen 
What right have you in Kashmir's 
throne? 



204 SACRIFICE 

Vikram 
The right of the victorious. This throne 
is now mine, and I will give it to him. 

Chandrasen 
You give it to him! Do I not know 
proud Kumarsen, from his infancy? Do 
you think he will accept his father's throne 
as a gift from you? He can bear your 
vengeance, but not your generosity. 

Enters a Messenger 
Messenger 
The news has reached us that Kumarsen 
is coming in a closed carriage to surrender 
himself. [Goes out. 

Chandrasen 
Incredible! The lion comes to beg his 
chains! Is life so precious? 

Vikram 
But why does he come in a closed car- 
riage? 

Chandrasen 
How can he show himself? The eyes 
of the crowd in the streets will pierce 



THE KING AND QUEEN «05 

him, like arrows, to the quick. Ejng, put 
out the lamp, when he comes, receive him 
in darkness. Do not let him suffer the 
insult of the light. 

Enters Devadatta 

Devadatta 

I hear that the King, Kumarsen, is 
coming to see you of his own will. 

Vikram 

I will receive him with solemn rituals, — 
with you as our priest. Ask my general 
to employ his soldiers to make preparation 
for a wedding festival. 

Enter the Brahmin Elders 

All 
Victory be to you. 

First Elder 

We hear that you have invited our 
King, to restore him to his throne, — 
Therefore we have come to bless you for 



206 SACRIFICE 

Enters Shankar 

the joy that you have given to Kashmir. 
[TJiey bless him, and the King bows to them. 
The Brahmins go out. 

Shankar 
(To Chandrasen.) Sire, is it true that 
Kumarsen is coming to surrender himself 
to his enemies? 

Chandrasen 
Yes, it is true. 

Shankar 
Worse than a thousand hes. O my be- 
loved King, I am your old servant, I have 
suffered pain that only God knows, yet 
never complained. But how can I bear 
this? That you should travel through all 
the roads of Kashmir, to enter your cage 
of prison? Why did not your servant 
die before this day? 

Enters a Soldier 

Soldier 
The carriage is at the door. 



THE KING AND QUEEN 207 

King 

Have they no instruments at hand, — 

flutes and drums? Let them strike a glad 

tune. {Coming near the door,) I welcome 

you, my kingly friend, with all my heart. 

Enters Sumitra, with a covered tray in her 
hands, 

Vikram 
Sumitra. My Queen! 

Sumitra 

King Vikram, day and night you sought 
him in hills and forests, spreading devas- 
tation, neglecting your people and your 
honour, and to-day he sends through me 
to you his coveted head, — the head upon 
which death sits even more majestic than 
his crown. 

Vikram 

My Queen. 

Sumitra 
Sire, no longer your Queen; for merciful 
death has claimed me. 

[Falls and dies. 



208 SACRIFICE 

Shankar 
My King, my Master, my darling boy, 
you have done well. You have come to 
your eternal throne. God has allowed 
me to live for so long to witness this glory. 
And now, my days are done, and your 
servant will follow you. 

Enters IiiA, dressed in a bridal dress 

Ila 
King, I hear the bridal music. Where 
is my lover? I am ready. 



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Personality 

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The Cycle of Spring 

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Fruit Gathering 

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The Crescent Moon : Child Poems 

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The Gardener 

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The Post Office 

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THE NEW BOLPUR EDITION OF 
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This beautiful new edition, named after Tagore's famous school at Bol- 
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Gathering," and " The Hungry Stones, and Other Stories." 

The paper, printing and general appearance of the volumes are unusual, 
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A special design has been made for the covers, the end papers and title 
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one of these from a portrait of Tagore taken during his recent visit to Japan. 

SIR RABINDRANATH TAGORE'S WORKS 

(Com^tete in the Bolpur Edition) 

FRUIT GATHERING. (Just published.) A sequel to the famous 

Gitanjali. 
THE HUNGRY STONES, AND OTHER STORIES. (Just 

published.) 
CHITRA: A Play in One Act. 
THE CRESCENT MOON : Child Poems. 
THE GARDENER: Love Poems. 
GITANJALI : Religious Poems. 

THE KING OF THE DARK CHAMBER. A Play. 
SONGS OF KABIR. 
SADHANA : The Realization of Life. 
THE POST OFFICE : A Play. 



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